Change
by Yaysies536
Summary: Hazel Reed is afraid of change. The particle accelerator explosion put her in a coma for 8 months, she wakes up and nothing is the same. Her best friend is unrecognisable, her parents are divorced and have moved states, her boyfriend is a lier and a cheater. She experiences consecutive losses, until she meets a certain forensic scientist and news reporter...
1. Prologue

**Hello! I am completely new to FanFiction, and this is my first fic... ever. So yay for that! I'm still undecided where I am going with this story, so I can't promise much. I also have no clue what I'm doing, I have no experience with jobs, or large cities like Central... or relationships. So, here I am... I hope you enjoy, please review!**

 **Edit: Hi, after really getting into my story, Ive come back to read this and realised that the first three chapters are kind of bad and cringy, I've tried to fix them but they can't be saved. Please just bare with me, the story gets _much_ better and more exciting.**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Prologue:

(Day of the particle accelerator explosion)

Today was supposed to be a 'family day,' according to my parents.

I was skeptical when I arrived, I didnt think it was possible to have a peaceful conversation without the presence of awkwardness and fake love. Now I'm sure, it isn't possible. Buried childhood memories are resurfacing, and they aren't good ones.

"Melissa! We do not have the money for this! How many times have I told you to-"

"Stop! You have got to stop treating me like this Richard! I can buy what I want!"

My Mum and Dad's voices echoed loudly through the small house, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the neighbours could hear. However, they probably would have been used to it by now, seeing as this raging fight had carried on since I was in 7th grade.

I had stopped by to visit my parents house tonight as they had just gotten back home after a holiday overseas. I had instantly regretted returning to my childhood home, the house was haunted with old memories, bad out weighing the good. I was in the bathroom, quickly tidying up before the hour drive back to my apartment in the city.

Satisfied with my appearance, I sling my brown leather bag over my shoulder and begin walking down the hall to announce my departure to my bickering parents. I enter the kitchen, purposely thumping my shoes slightly louder than nessicary against the dark tiles to catch my either of my parent's attention.

"Mum? Dad? I'm leaving," I call to them from just over three meters away.

My words are forgotten in their quickly worsening argument. Why do I even bother?

"MUM! DAD!" I practically scream in their faces.

"Hazel, honey? Did you say something?" My mother's face softens as she turns to me, her face red and stained with tears.

"I'm leaving," I huff, "I left dinner the fridge."

"Oh, thank you so much for coming sweetie," her face lights up with a kind smile, but I really can't tell if it is sincere, "we really appreciate it."

"Your welcome," I gather the strength to pull on my brightest fake smile as I hug my father and bid both parents farewell.

Finally, I made it out the heavy wooden front door and quickly walk alone along the cold concrete path to my small silver Honda parked peacefully by the side of the road. I can feel tears pricking my eyes by the time I quietly shut the car door.

I sincerely hope my boyfriend Derek and I don't end up living a angry life as miserable as the one my role model parents live.

Xx

"HAZEL!" My best friend, Tilly's high pitched scream painfully murders my innocent eardrums as she wraps me in a tight hug. Quickly pulling me inside our apartment and slamming the door behind me.

She pulls back and gazes over my puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks, "oh no, what happened?"

I simply groan and retreat to the black leather couch, collapsing into the soft comforting couchy goodness. My black schipperke dog, Oshi, excitedly bounds up onto the couch, sitting on my stomach whilst hitting me repeatedly in the face with her tail.

Oshi was once my parents dog, they bought her when I was 14 years of age. I don't know why they did it, they had already been fighting for about a year and they were barely managing me as a teen.

Still, after just a few weeks Oshi became neglected and I took care of him in place of my parents. Oshi helped me deal with my emotions over the years, she would lay with me as I wept about my parents fighting, or walk with me in the mornings and share my excitement over upcoming art festivals or upcoming seasons of of my favourite shows.

When I left home, I took Oshi with me. I don't know how I would live without her.

"Good to see you too, you filthy animal," I mutter as I sit up, screwing my face up as I wipe the black dog hairs off my face.

"Hazel!" Tilly impatiently shrieks, "what happened?"

"My parents were fighting again," I supply.

"Ugh, how are they not divorced?" Tilly falls onto the sofa beside me.

"I personally think that their both too stubborn to give up on their already failed relationship, I just don't understand why their fighting still effects me the same way it did when I was a _teenager_. I mean, I'm 24 years old, why do I still feel like bursting into tears?" I sigh.

"I don't know. But you know what?" Tilly suddenly jumps back onto her feet, "I'm gonna distract you from this, 'cause we both know that I suck at comforting."

Tilly looks down at her pink guinea pig covered pyjamas, clearly she spent the day at home. If I were to guess, I'd say she spent the day watching The Vampire Diaries on Netflix. That show is incredibly addictive, despite the fact that its target audience were teenagers, not adults.

"I'm gonna go change," Tilly muses, "then we're going out! Most people are going out to see the STAR Labs particle accelerator turn on, so hopefully the place I have in mind isn't crowded."

She stalks out of the large kitchen/ living room, and marches down the narrow hallway to her bedroom.

"So... where exactly are you taking me?" I call after her, but she ignores my question and shuts her door.

Personally, I would rather stay home and mope in self pity. Tilly is a good enough friend to not allow that.

Reluctantly, I haul myself to my feet and look around the large room. The entire apartment has white walls and cream tiles, a chocolate brown rug is located in the corner of the room which the door isn't in.

Gathered around the rug are a bunch of cow patterned bean bags and and the black sofa I was just moping on. The TV resides on the wall in front of the sofa. Tilly and I are both huge couch potatoes, if we didn't have work most days, we would gladly sit around watching TV and drinking coffee 24/7.

Behind the sofa is the kitchen, grey cupboards and benches everywhere. Just across from the kitchen is the hallway which leads to my room, Tilly's room, our shared bathroom and a fourth door which leads to the roof as ours is the top apartment.

I head to the bathroom to fix up my hair and face because apparently, Tilly and I are going out. If only I knew where.

Xx

Tall lamps tower above us as we sit on the edge of the long, old, wooden dock. The water is dark with mystery and the reflection of lights from the city dance across the surface.

Tilly sits beside me, struggling to keep her long blond hair out her her raspberry slushy as her feet dangle in the water.

Tilly and I are very alike, we became friends in the last few weeks of 12th grade, bonding over the tragedy that both of our high school boyfriends cheated on us with the same girl and then broke up with us in the same week.

We mourned together and made sure that bitch had a painful last few weeks of school.

We then stuck together through our few years of University, we were roommates however we shared our dorm with three other people. Both of us are hard workers who would give anything to reach our goals.

Fortunately, both is us did. I became an artist, I own a store near CCJitters which I open every Tuesday and Thursday. I display all of my artwork in that store and usually manage to attract quite a crowd.

I am also a photographer and I own a website with my best photos displayed. I mostly take photos of couples, however I sometimes get to photograph weddings. Tilly works for the Central City Picture News, she had originally studied to become an author, however she found writing newspaper articles more intriguing.

Slurrrrrppppp!

Startled, I jumped a few centimetres in the air at the sudden noise. Well that certainly pulled me out of my thoughts. Tilly snorted at me and loudly slurped the last of her now melted slushy through the straw, before setting it down on the ground.

Just then, the STAR Labs accelerator lit up, I could hear the cheering from my seat on the dock about a mile away.

"They say it's gonna change the world," my thoughts somehow burst from my mouth.

Tilly simply hummed in agreement, she was also deep in thought.

I looked down the jetty back to the shore. It was a long walk from where we were currently seated back to the mainland.

"We should get going..." I say as I stand, my legs both slightly numb from sitting down for a long time.

"Yeah, I'm freezing," Tilly agreed as she grabbed her now empty slushy and stood beside me, "though I'm not sure if I'm cold 'cause of the wind, or 'cause I thought it was a good idea to eat a slushy on a cold night..."

Halfway back to the mainland, I sense that something's wrong. I would have missed it if we weren't on such an old, unstable surface. The ground was shaking.

"Do you-" I start.

"Feel the ground shaking?" Tilly whispered, "yeah, I do."

The lamps which lined the edges of the dock began flickering on and off. Franticly looking around, we search for something to explain the trembling dock. Then we hear the boom. And from my experience watching Netflix, big booms are never good.

We watch in horror as the the entire city blacks out, suddenly, we a caught in a blanket of darkness. Another boom. A good boom? Hah! Of course not. Tilly and I reach for each other's hands as the seemingly unreal event plays out before us. STAR Labs EXPLODED?! What the actual hell?! All those people...

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, a golden light begins radiating out across the city. My hand is shaking as I reach into my pocket for my phone, I fumble to turn on the torch. I shine it down on the ground, if we are still on this dock when that light hits us, we're gonna go splat in the water, caught under heavy wood and swimming with sharks. I'd heard that drowning was the worse way to go.

Tilly and I exchanged a glance, before breaking into a sprint.

It all happened so fast. One minute I'm running, the next I'm blinded by golden light, pushing Tilly to safety. Shortly after, I'm pinned underwater beneath heavy planks of wood.

I feel the cold, I feel my lungs screaming for air. Then, I feel nothing.

They said the particle accelerator would change the world...

Well, I guess they were right.

Xx

 **Well, taddah! That was really short... I mean, its the prologue and I couldn't really write anymore than that... anyway. Thanks for reading! Please review, or comment or whatever it is that you do. Once again, I'm new to this. I know where I'm going in the next 2 chapters or so.. but after that I'm still unsure. If you have any suggestions on how to make my writing better please tell me. I'm hoping to introduce Barry in the next chapter or so... Is this worth continuing?**

 **Thanks again,**

 **Yaysies536**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hi again! I'm just gonna keep writing, since you people still have no idea where I'm going with this. I think I have some pretty good ideas, I just hope you like them too. I will get into the metahumany stuff soon, there will be some some action in this story. Just hold on for a bit... So, here it is, the first chapter. Let me know what you think :)**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 1

(8 months after the particle accelerator explosion)

The first thing I saw, was a blinding white light.

A few moments later, it hit me. The disgustingly clean smell of hospitals.

I know this smell all too well, seeing as I spent a good 3 months in here as a child with a life threatening virus. Those weren't fun times...

I sit up and look around. I'm dressed in a weird pale blue gown and my room is completely empty. I look to the table beside my bed, there is a small vase of flowers and a two small envelopes. I am just about to reach for them when I notice that I am attached to the IV drip by a long clear tube.

And it's going into my wrist. I turn my head and look in the other direction. I have a thing with wrists, it's something about the gains and the thin appearance. Just looking at an ordinary wrist makes me feel light headed. Add needles to the equation, no thanks.

Just then a nurse walked into the room and stood beside my bed. She begins furiously scribbling notes on a piece of paper.

"Where am I?" I try to ask, she ignores me. I assume she's not permitted to talk to me, however I keep trying for answers.

"What day is it?"

"What happened to Tilly?"

Just then, the door reopens. A man dressed in white walks in this time.

"Hello, I am Dr Andrews," he speaks infuriatingly slowly with an unfamiliar accent, "this is the Central City Medical Centre, and you have been in a coma for 8 months."

Well he got straight to the point didn't he. I replay over his words in my head, realising what he just told me.

8 MONTHS. How was I supposed to take that?

Xx

A few hours later, Dr Andrews helps me check out after lots of tests to prove that I was well enough to leave. My first stop was home. I was informed that Tilly had made it to shore after the explosion with barely a scratch, but I had to check on her.

I had tucked the two envelopes from the table beside my hospital bed into the pocket of my jacket, planning to read them when I got to the apartment.

I waved over a taxi and gave the driver my address, before anxiously sitting in uncomfortable silence for 20 minutes. When the taxi finally pulled to the side of the road in front of the building which my apartment was in, I sprung to my feet, thanking him before sprinting inside.

I flew through the foyer and up the stairs. I was concerned that I would be weak after being in a coma for so long, however I felt stronger than ever. When I got the door of my apartment, I knocked on the door. I could just barge in, but I wanted to surprise Tilly with my arrival.

A minute passed as I waited outside, Tilly was clearly home judging by the noise coming from behind the door. I briefly study the door, strangely coloured light beams out from the gap underneath it and the noise from inside was too muffled by our soundproof door to recognise who or what it was.

Giving up on my plan, I swing open the door. WHAM, It all hits me at once.

Firstly, our door is a lot more sound proof than I gave it credit it for. Music is blasting so loudly my ears feel like they are going to explode. Then, I noticed the mess. Clothes are everywhere, slung over chairs and tables. Junk food wrappers and empty bottles of alcohol were all over the floor and furniture. The music suddenly stops, and Tilly approaches me appearing from absolutely nowhere.

"Huh," she mutters, "you're awake."

"Nice to see you too," I say, taking in Tilly's new appearance and stepping through the doorway. Her naturally blond hair was died dark brown with a bright pink streak painted obnoxiously through it. Her once beautiful stormy grey eyes were glazed over, her makeup was bold and over the top.

After taking a few more steps I realise, she isn't alone in our apartment. A bunch of people gather behind her, and I don't recognise any one of them. One man in particular stood out from the rest, probably because he is the creepiest creep I have ever seen. He has black hair and scarily blue eyes that look like they are staring into my soul. I notice a tattoo of a crow on his neck.

"Who are these people? What happened to you?" I raise my voice slightly, searching for some kind of explanation.

"I moved on, and these and my new friends," she says with a weird confidence I have never seen in her before.

"Huh," I respond shortly. I honestly have no words.

I barge straight through the group of people, down the hallway and into my room. I can feel tears pricking my eyes but I refuse to let them fall. What else could have changed?

I let out a sigh of relief as I enter my room, not a thing had changed. Tilly clearly hadn't been in here much. The only evident change was that Oshi sat on the black carpet, tied to the end of my bed by a sliver chain.

What is going on? Tilly loved Oshi, why would she do this? I sit on the end of my bed, untying Oshi. Once free, Oshi jumps up excitedly onto the bed beside me, sniffing me all over and flinching at the strong stench of hospital that followed me here. She moves stiffly as though she had been tied up for a fair amount of time.

I sat on my bed cuddling with Oshi for a while, still trying to process Tilly's new behaviour. Then I remember the envelopes from the hospital. I simply hope that whatever these envelopes contained was good news, because I really doubt I could take anymore bad.

Xx

I don't know how long I have been here, but I don't know what else to do. For what seems like hours, I have lay on this bed crying into Oshi's soft black fur. All I know is that parents are complete jerks. I've dealt with their drama for the majority of my life, and they had- ugh!

I throw a fourth pillow across the room.

My thoughts wonder back to the two letters which I had brought home from the hospital. The first was from dad. The letter basically told me that he and mom had divorced, and that he never wanted to see me again because he was starting his life over, despite the fact that he is 55 years old. Apparently I'm just a reminder of mom and he moved states just to avoid her and I.

Surely he could have told me that in person. What a dickhead.

My mom's letter was much more sensitive. She told me that she had moved to Starling, and that I could come visit if I wished. She told me that Central had too many bad memories that she didn't have the time for. She also was starting over, and I am left alone.

Today, I have lost three of the few people that I used to care about, who used to care about me. I don't understand why or how, I don't know what to do about it.

The only idea of mine that seems appealing in this moment is seeing the only other person that cares whether I live or die. My next stop is my boyfriend, Derek's house. I just hope that he would be happy to see me, rather than disgusted.

Xx

Derek's house is closer to my parents old house than it was to Central City, where Tilly and I live. He has always had to drive an hour to work every morning, and I used to drive for an hour to see him at his house. Like me, he is a photographer and does some painting and drawing, except he works for the Central City Picture News.

Finally his familiar house comes into view, and I park my car on his bumpy driveway. His white Ute is also parked on his driveway bringing me to the conclusion that he is home.

I'm nervous as I walk up to the translucent glass from door. What if he rejects me just like Tilly did? I force myself to get over my nerves and push the doorbell. Nothing happens. I guess it broke some time in the 8 months which I slept through. I knock loudly on the door.

The door opens and he emerges, our eyes meet. My emotions are pulsing through me like a river.

"Hi..." I murmur as I carefully study his face, watching every emotion flicker across his features.

First I see surprise, then confusion, then excitement, then concern- He sweeps me up in a hug and we just stand here, at his door and embrace one another for a few minutes, before he ushers me inside.

He sits me down, makes tea and bombardedsme with questions. He wants to know if I am okay, if I am still hurt, what time I woke up, he told me that he visited once a week to check on me. He holds me as I cry into his shoulder and yell him about Tilly and my parents. He seems to be the only honest person that cared about me left, and I tell him just that. When he heard me express myself, I thought I saw guilt flash across his warm features, however I brush it off and figure he is just upset about the accident.

It was almost 9 at night when I left his house, and for the first time in since the world changed, I felt loved, sure of myself and at home.

I drove home in my silver Honda with a warm, satisfied feeling, and that was all I thought I needed. However, eventually my sudden losses caught up to me and I was swept up in childhood memories of my parents, or my 12th grade adventures with Tilly. I laughed through my tears as I remembered the day that Tilly and I named this same silver car which I was currently driving Ronda the Honda, as we spent so much time in it we decided that the car needed a name.

The song _Cigarette Daydream_ began playing on the radio, its one of my favourites, and I sang loudly as I drove to my apartment, mentally preparing myself for a long conversation with Tilly.

Xx

We sat in silence on the cow patterned bean bags in the TV room. Tilly's new friends, had left and she had cleaned up the animalistic mess that they had left behind. Still, the apartment reeked of alcohol and that wasn't going away anytime soon.

"How's work?" I asked her, trying to start a conversation.

"I quit," she deadpanned, "I'm a bartender at the Karaoke Bar now, that's how I met my friends."

Figures. Of course she quit her life goal, she really had thrown everything away.

"So... you're a party animal now?" I laugh humourlessly.

"Yeah," he pipes up, "better than spending my time in a library wasting my life in a book."

I never thought I could be this disgusted in a person, "Tilly, why did you do this?"

Maybe I could reason with her, make her my friend again.

She seemed to know where I was going with this topic, "I'm not changing who I am just because you woke up Hazel. The world moved on. Get with it."

I sigh, "well, since I'm living here too now, please don't throw parties in here. You're 24 years old, not 16."

Ignoring my jab at her age she huffs, "fine," before standing up and retreating to her room.

Unbelievable.

Xx

 **Whew. So, that's done. All that emotional stuff was just setting up for the next chapter, and I promise I will introduce Barry or Iris. Probably Iris... anyways. Thanks for reading and enjoy your day.**

 **Much love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey there peoples! In this chapter I will be introducing Iris, Barry is still in coma (its only been 8.5 months) and this chapter might even be a decent length. I'll see what I can do. Also, I'm not sure whether this fic should be under the genre "friendship" or if I should eventually incorporate some romance. Please review and share your opinion :)**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 2

Today, I'm finally back in business. Literally.

My store, CCPaints, (original name, I know. Tilly named it, when she was, well... _normal_ Tilly? _Good_ Tilly? Gosh, I don't know anymore) has been closed closed for about 6 months. My co- worker, Joshua kept it running for a while whilst I was in a coma, however he wasn't much of a painter and the store closed once he ran out of my paintings to sell.

It's been 2 weeks since I woke up, 2 weeks since my world changed. I've spent the last week quickly designing and painting some of my old ideas, since all my new ideas are incredibly sad and lonely. Huh, sounds like my life. I doubt anyone will want to look at those, so I continue working on old paintings, or memories from my old life. I just want everything to go back the way it was.

I'm currently sitting on a stool at the kitchen bench in my apartment sipping on a warm, homemade coffee. Tilly had already brushed me off and leftand I am too miserable to go to Jitters. I swing my head around to glance at the clock. 7:30am. Josh wants me in the store by 7 so that we have time to set the store up before opening at 9.

Today is Tuesday, the second worst day of my week. The worst is Thursdays. Why? Just because.

WHAM!

I spin around to see a crow, staring at me curiously through the window about the kitchen bench. I've always had a phobia of birds, crows in general.

The dumb thing must have flew into my window. WHAM. I spin my head around again, two crows sit on my windowsill, creepily watching my every move. Do they not have better ways to spend their time?

"Creeps," I mutter, before returning to my thoughts.

I go to take another sip of my coffee, but there's none left. Glaring daggers at the crows the whole time, I wash up my mug and head out of my apartment and down the stairs.

When I reach my car, Ronda the Honda, I climb into the front seat and start it up. Some ugly rock song blasts out of the speakers, causing me to jump in the air and hit my head on the roof of the car. I curse as I change the radio station. All of my recent art is already piled into the back of my tiny car, I just hope we get the same crowd that we used to once we finally reopened.

Xx

"Hazel!" Josh exclaims, wrapping me in a hug.

Josh and I met at some art festival where he asked about a job. I hired him on the spot and we've been close friends since.

After hitting me with a stream of questions about my wellbeing, he moved to the boot to begin unloading our new stock. I move to help Josh out the back of my car when I see _him_. That creep that Tilly hangs out with, the one with the messed up blue eyes that can stare into your soul and a crow tattoo on his neck. He is standing just across the busy street in a dark alley between two large apartment buildings.

"Josh?" I murmur, my voice wavering against my will.

"Yeah? What's wrong, are you okay?" He asks, rushing over to me.

"Do you see-" I turn to point to blue eyed creepo, but he's gone.

"Never mind," I mutter, "it's nothing, I'm fine."

Despite the fact that I told him 'I'm FINE' he continued to question my health and offer to take me to the hospital. After finally listening to me as I denied every offer that came out of his worried mouth, we finally resumed to unpacking.

In about 45 minutes the store is back in shape. After moving all of my art, which I was quite proud of considering how rusty I am with a brush, indoors we started dusting off all of the unsanitary surfaces. Then we disinfected everything with some strong smelling liquid. I don't actually know what it was, but it did the job. In comparison to those two torturous steps, hanging up the paintings was a breeze.

I glance outside and frown. We usually would have a large que outside by now. Artwork in Central City used to be a lot more popular than most would think.

Xx

We had been open for half an hour, and there were still no customers. I was about to retreat to the back room where I could paint some more while I was waiting for people to notice that we were open again, when the bell signalling someone's enters ran loud and clear. Josh was about to go and get our new customer when I pulled him back.

"Can I do this one?" I ask, judging by the unbudging look on his face I pout and give him puppy dog eyes, "it's been a while..."

"Fine," he rolls his eyes and sits down with a huff.

I walk to the front door where a dark haired girl stood looking at the air with a notepad in her hand. I'm about to introduce myself to her but she beats me to it.

"Hi, I'm Iris West," she sticks out her hand in greeting, "I work for the CCPN and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?"

My smile falls from my face, I had been hoping to share the joys of art with her, it seemed she just wanted to know about my coma. What is with everyone?

"Sure," I reply, trying my best to sound excited.

"Great!" She beams, "but first I'm looking for a painting, I was hoping to buy a painting as a gift for my boyfriend-"

She is cut off when the bell rings again. My head snaps to look at our new customer, and I jump back in fright. It was him. It was... _him_. The man's creepy eyes moved slowly as he looked around the store. His gaze landed menacingly on me.

"You need to leave," I say, desperate to keep my inner panic out of my voice.

Who was I kidding, I am the least threatening specimen that you will _ever_ lay eyes on.

"Are you sure you want me to leave? You know, _Tilly_ told me a lot about you," his smirk crept up the side of his face.

"What did you do to Tilly?" I raise my voice.

"She's safe," his eyes roll back into his head, revealing just creepy white, before returning to the just as creepy, normal blue, "in your apartment from what I can see."

Now that was just messed up. No other explanation.

I'm shaking in fear, despite my efforts to show strength. This guy hadn't even really threatened me, but every time I saw him, he just made me feel scared, alone and cold. I'm lost in fear. I'm about to call for Josh's help when Iris surprisingly jumps to my rescue.

"My dad is a cop," she says, raising her fists into a defensive position, "if you don't leave, right now, I will call him to arrest you."

Wait... arrest him? He hadn't actually done anything... _yet_. Well, its not like I know the guy, maybe he had a criminal record?

Then the man pulls a gun out of his pocket. My heart feels like its going to fly out of my chest.

Iris presses a button on her phone, it rings for a spilt second before her dad picks up.

" _Hello, Iris_?" his voice is worried, " _what's wrong?"_

The man with a weapon slips his gun into his pocket and raises his hands in retreat. He steps back a few steps, opens the door and hides his time as he steps out the door.

"I'll be back for _you_ sweetie," he points a slow, talon like finger at me, "you aren't getting away from me. _Ever_ ," he hisses before slamming the door closed.

Iris continues her conversation with her dad, "never mind, I'm fine dad, bye."

She hangs up.

I let out a shaky breath that I didn't know I had been holding. What just happened?

"Thanks, Iris," I say, "you may have just saved my life."

"No problem, that guy has been harassing women all over the city, I would have told my dad to come catch him, but he is probably long gone by now," she explains.

"Still, thanks," I remember why she is here, "now, how about that painting?"

Iris grins widely as I show her around the store.

Xx

Iris finally decided on my favourite painting.

"I trust your judgement, you're the artist here, after all," she joked.

I laughed along with her. The painting was one of my favourite old ideas that I never got around to doing. It was a wooden bridge surrounded by water reflecting the pink and purple sky. It was painted so that it looked like a mirror, reflecting two worlds, the light, pink and fluffy sky, and the dark, cold water beneath the bridge.

I admired my work for a moment before Iris asked, "it's been a long day, and I have a date with my boyfriend in about 15 minutes. Will you meet me at Jitters, 10:30 tomorrow? I still need to ask you a few questions..." she trailed off.

"Sure," I agreed, I hadn't been to Jitters for a while, and I needed to get out of my apartment and quit moping. "I'll see you then."

I shoved the painting into a brown paper bag and handed it to her. I gave her a 50% off discount for helping me. She tried to deny it, but I owed her more than an interview and coffee for saving my ass.

After she left, I rang Tilly. When she picked up I was suprized. She didn't usually answer my calls anymore.

" _Whadda ya want_?" She slurs into the phone.

Seriously? It's the middle of the day and she was _drunk?_

 _"_ Are you okay?" I ask.

i receive a muffled "uh huh" before she hangs up on me. I would have to check up on her later.

When the store finally closed, I was pooped. Today had been loopy. What's another adjective... messed? Terrifying? Full of _shenanigans_? I giggled aloud at my inner monologue. Shenanigans is quite easily my favourite word, it makes me laugh every time I hear it. That and _skedaddle_. As I park Ronda the Honda on the side of the road in front of my apartment building, I get out of the car and admire my parking skills. I had been driving for 6 years, yet I still felt the need to fist pump the air every time I did a good parallel park.

My excitement vanishes when a crow lands atop of my car and squawks loudly. The man from earlier still haunted my thoughts. I laugh, and to think that I _already_ had a phobia of crows from a nasty accident as a child. His words echo through my head.

"You aren't getting away from me. _Ever_."

Xx

 **Yasss! I'm proud of that chapter. And we will see more of Iris and mysterious crow dude. I'm probs gonna be updating this once or twice a day. Depending on the levels of eventfulness in my life. At the moment it's a solid 0 and I have nothing to do. So expect more. Unless I get bored and quit. But that's unlikely. Imma stop rambling (in text form) now. Please review! Thanks for reading! Enjoy your day!**

 **Much love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. I just had a brainstorming (yes I use that word don't judge) session and I have soo many ideas. I'm gonna just keep pumping this chapters out. If your enjoying, so far I plan to post at least once a day. This is the second chapter I've written today and I'm really enjoying writing it. Hazel is basically me, except she's a bit less spazzo and more creative. Enough of me blabbering... y'all here for the story. Enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 3

Last night, I promised myself today would be better.

I couldn't be more wrong.

I woke up to the sound of Oshi barking and scratching at the window, and Tilly yelling at me to shut my dog up.

Once Tilly slammed the door closed, I roll out of bed to see what Oshi is going off about. I almost scream when I see it. There is a crow outside my window. This was when my dad would tease me and say, 'Hazel, it's just a crow. It can't do anything, it's brain is the size of a peanut.' Well dad, look at this crow now and tell me that I shouldn't be afraid. It's eyes are white and rolled up into its head so far you can't even see a hint of its giant black, beady pupils. I shudder as my subconscious relates the image to the man from yesterday. The way his eyes rolled back into his head would haunt me for decades.

"Chill out hon," I mutter as I pull Oshi away from my window.

I had wanted to forget about the man with the gun yesterday, but the universe had other plans. I continued my morning routine, getting dressed in a white shirt and jeans, pulling my hair back into a quick messy bun. The incident in my store had made its way to the media. I saw it flash by on the television as I made my coffee. The media had dramatised the event drastically. Using footage from the security cameras in my store they said that he threatened us with a gun. He hadn't threatened us at all really, he just said some messed up stuff before leaving and saying-

"You aren't getting away from me. Ever."

Never mind. That counts as a threat in my book.

After I finished my coffee I pull out my mobile phone, scrolling down my contacts until I find Derek's name. I press call. It rings for a few minutes before I give up. I really just need someone to talk to, since my mum, dad and Tilly didn't want anything to do with me. I really didn't have many other friends, except for Joshua. Josh and I have a weird relationship, it's fun to joke around with one another, but I just don't feel comfortable enough to talk to him about my problems. He's a nice guy, I'm just extremely picky about who I trust.

Speaking of nice people, I promised Iris to meet her at Jitters in- I glance at the clock- half an hour.

I skip to the bathroom and glare at my reflection. My usually vibrantly blue eyes look grey and dull, my hair... I've never really understood my hair. It's mousy brown at the top, however it has some random extremely blond streaks. It fades down to dark blond at the ends. The million dollar question here is, what colour is my hair? Everyone answers differently, I just go with dark blond. It's also fluffy. I have to drown it in coconut oil just to make it look nice, because when it's dry it poofs up to the size of a lions mane. I run back out to the kitchen and stop in front of the clock. 20 minutes.

Racing back to my room, I grab my brown leather bag, which I bring with me everywhere I go. Finally making my way through the foyer of my apartment building, I follow the grey concrete path to where Ronda (the Honda) is parked on this side of the road.

Squawk!

I look up and see at least 15 crows on the power line above me. Each one glaring down at me. I strain my eyes to look more closely at them. Each of them have white eyes. Surely this is a joke. My mind is playing tricks on me, all because stupid crow man with a gun and weird eyes scared the bejesus out of me. Stepping into my car, I rev the engine before driving off.

I swear I see a flock of black feathers trailing behind me from above.

Xx

When I pull up outside of Jitters, I can see Iris sitting alone through the window.

Dang, am I late? These are the times when I wish I had a watch.

I open the door and the smell of God's greatest creation hits me like a wall. Coffee. I walk up to Iris and she doesn't notice. She has a blank expression on her face, she seems to be deep in thought. Should I tap her on the shoulder? Are we at that stage of friendship yet? I'm terrible at making friends, probably the most awkward person you will ever meet.

I dig through my thoughts as I try to remember how to greet another human being. Huh, that's right, "hi Iris!" I exclaim, slightly too loudly.

She jumps upright and her head snaps to face me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," I quickly apologise.

"No, no, its fine. I was thinking too hard," she brushes it off.

There is a brief pause before I break the silence with my obnoxious craving for coffee.

"I need coffee," I'm about to turn away when I remember human etiquette, "can I get you anything while I'm there?"

"Nah," she gestures to the coffee on the table which I _definitely_ noticed, "I'm alright thanks, I would have gotten you something, but I didn't know if you even liked coffee."

I laugh, "that's fine, but who doesn't like _coffee_?"

Iris chuckles before returning to her thoughts. The expression on her face is all too familiar. I see it when I look in the mirror every morning.

Xx

Once I return with my coffee, Iris draws out her notepad and a pen. She asks questions about side effects of the coma, how I was adjusting and what it was like to be in a coma.

"It's kinda like time travel," I tell her, "everyone and everything is familiar, but so different. For example, my best friend and I used to be really close, but now I look at her and see a stranger."

"Huh," Iris says, clearly really interested in the subject, "how so?"

"Well, she used to be a book worm, now she's a party animal. We used to talk about everything, now we never speak. She told me, and I quote this, 'the world has moved on, get with it.'"

"Geez," Iris empathised, "that's kind of mean."

"Tell me about it," I mutter.

"How did your family respond to your condition?" Iris asks.

I chuckle, "another fun story. The only family I was ever really close with were my parents. They divorced and moved states while I was asleep."

Iris almost spat out her coffee, choking slightly, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know-"

"Its fine. Actually, it's nice to have someone to talk to. My boyfriend has been really busy lately, sometimes it feels like I'm alone in the world."

Iris moves to comfort me, "if you ever need someone to talk to, talk to me."

She hands me a paper slip with a phone number, probably hers, before continuing, "you can trust me."

She turns her notepad around, and to my surprise, it's completely blank.

"I haven't written any of this down. I just want to know what to expect, what to do or not do. Also, I need someone to talk to. I have my dad and my boyfriend who are great listeners, but I have no _girl_ friends. You know what I mean?"

That last part made sense, but 'what to do or not to do?' Im confused. I nod my head along anyways.

"See, Barry Allen, a good friend of mine, he's practically my brother really, he was struck by lightning just like you got trapped underwater on the night the particle accelerator exploded. He's still in a coma, has been for over 8 months. That's not the point. I think that your story can give hope to other people who have family members that are still recovering, just like you gave hope to me. I won't share any of this personal stuff, because it's well, personal, but will you give me permission to write about your miraculous recovery?"

Woah, I'm speechless, "sure."

I mean, it's the least I can do. Iris seemed really passionate about this, and she is the closest thing to a friend I've got.

Xx

Iris and I cross paths most Tuesdays and Thursdays, as those are the days when I work in my store. Iris hangs around Jitters quite a lot, so I run into her almost every single time I walk about the area.

Iris and I quickly became friends. We have a lot in common. Loss from the particle accelerator being one of the topics we encounter frequently. We also talk about the man with the crow tattoo, I ask her each time I see her if her dad and the police department have caught him yet.

Thankfully, we did more than just complain about the amount of sadness and misery in our lives. We spoke about guys, shopping, hair products. Things that normal people would talk about. I had forgotten how nice it felt to be normal.

Throughout the week I'd had to do quite a few photo shoots, but not as many as I used to. Still, it was fun to get back to doing what I love. Work was also a distraction from my recent loss which was bothering me much more than I had allowed myself to believe.

I had been seeing crows everywhere. And by everywhere, I mean, absolutely everywhere. They were at my window when I woke up in the morning, when I fell asleep at night. When I drove to work, when I sat with Iris at Jitters.

On the topic of strange occurrences, I hadn't heard from a Derek in a week. Before the particle accelerator explosion, he would call me every night to tell me that he loved me. That I was the most special person in the world.

Like Tilly said, the world really had moved on, I was still trying to adjust to how much it had changed.

It's Wednesday again, a week since Iris and I first had coffee.

I'm walking up the driveway to Derek's house. It feels great to finally stretch my legs after the hour drive. I knock on the door as the doorbell is still broken.

Squawk!

I turn around and see a crow, sitting on the wooden railing. It's no surprise that it's eyes are messed up and white, just like the rest of the hallucinations I have been having. I didn't really know if they were hallucinations, maybe I should be freaking out. With all the crows I've been seeing lately, I doubt the dumb bird is even real. I should probably talk to someone about it. Iris? Nah. Maybe I should see a therapist...

I hear voices whispering, before the door opens. I spin around to face the house again.

"Hey, Hazel," Derek's familiar face beams at me.

His smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. I'm about to say something when I see movement in the living room behind him.

"Hi..." I say, even I can hear the suspicion in my tone, "is there someone else there?"

I think I hear Derek swear under his breath as he turns his back to me, but it was probably just me hearing things. God knows I've been seeing things. Cough, crows with freakish white eyes, cough.

"Francesca?" he calls out.

Who the hell is Francesca?

A beautiful blond girl with long, curly hair appears next to Derek. Her eyes are big and brown. Absolutely stunning. I'm instantly jealous, my eyes look like tiny blue raisins in comparison to hers.

"This is my, uh," he hesitates, "cousin, Francesca."

"Nice to meet you," I say as I stick out my hand in greeting.

Derek didn't have many relatives, so it was surprising that he hadn't mentioned her before. Still, I stay for a few hours, helping them cook dinner and sitting down for a meal with them both. I tried to start up a conversation about Francesca's childhood with Derek, however they both seemed to have very different opinions or memories of their time together.

It was strange, but I enjoyed myself. I had to leave at 8 because I have work tomorrow morning.

Xx

UGH. I _hate_ Thursdays.

This morning when I woke up, I felt like burying myself in my sheets and sleeping forever. It's mornings like these make me contemplate the meaning of life.

Joshua is being strict as ever, despite the fact that I'm his boss. He continues to ring my phone until I get out of bed and pick up. Asshole.

My coffee this morning tastes dull in comparison to all the Jitters coffee I've been having lately. A crow lands on my windowsill once again, and watches as I drink my coffee. I chose to ignore it, making a mental sticky note to go online and search for a good therapist.

Work is busy. But not busy enough. I have even have enough time to paint a portrait in the breaks when Joshua can handle the customers. And yes, I'll admit it, I painted a crow. Why? I don't know... because, why not? I've got a lot of feelings about them bottled up inside that I might as well let out on a canvas.

I'm walking into Jitters after Josh finally let me close up the shop. I really need coffee. It's after work hours, and Iris is probably finished with her work at CCPN. Coffee is my priority (when is it not?), meeting Iris would just be a welcomed bonus.

Of course, Iris is there. As soon as I walk in the door, she walks straight up to me. I see her boyfriend, Eddie, sitting at the table she had just left. I had seen photos and heard a lot about him, but I was still yet to actually meet him.

"Hazel!" Iris calls to me before hugging me.

Yes, apparently, just like Tilly used to be, Iris is a fan of hugs.

"Hey Iris! Strange seeing you here," I joke.

"Hey! You can't judge me, you're here too," she laughs, "anyway, Eddie and I were talking about it, you said you have a boyfriend? Derek?"

"Yeah," I reply, stretching the word out as I wonder what she's getting at. I really have to stop being suspicious. First with Francesca, now with Iris.

"Well, we want to know if you'd like to go on a double date? Me, Eddie, you and Derek. Sounds like fun, right?"

"Sure, why not," I agree against my will, "I'll ask Derek about it next time I see him."

The truth is, I hate double dates as does Derek. I just want to prove Iris that I'm not just using her as a vent for my emotions, because she has already proven she's not using me.

"Yay! I'll go tell Eddie, you've got my number, call when you hear from Derek!" her eyes are gleaming with excitement as she bids me farewell and returns to her table with Eddie.

Well, I guess I walked into that one.

Xx

 **Soo... I just realised that I made a mistake, but I'm not going to fix it. Iris didn't always work for CCPN, she was working at Jitters first. But... for the sake of the story I'm just going to go with what I have here. So if you're confused, Iris works at CCPN, not Jitters. Whoops! Oh well. Also, this chapter is really just setting up for the next, that's why it's long, emotional and kind of boring. Next chapter should be interesting. Also, if you think I'm moving too fast, too many time jumps? Thank me. I tried to write more of Iris and Hazel becoming friends, but even I was bored writing it. It will slow down a bit soon, so don't worry. Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!**

 **Much love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello! I'm super excited to write this chapter, because I after this I'm going to finally get to the good stuff. Why? Cuz [SPOILER] Barry wakes up! Yeaaaaah the boys! If you're sick of spooky crow dude, don't stress. I'm trying to get rid of him, but I need him for a bit longer. Just hold on, and things should start getting good.**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 4

(9 months since the particle accelerator explosion)

"Can you believe that it's only been 4 weeks since I woke up? You know, for the first time in a while, life really is looking up," I say with confidence into my phone.

Sure, I've only known Iris West for 2 weeks now, but it feels like it's been months.

" _Huh, and why is that_?" her voice is scrambled through my apartments bad reception, but the smirk in her voice is clear.

"Because things are normal!" then I realise who I'm talking to, "more... normal.

Iris and I would talk at least once a day, whether it was accidentally crossing paths near Jitters or calling one another late in the afternoon.

" _Have you heard back from Derek about the double date?"_

I feel a pang of hurt at the sound of his name.

"No, I haven't heard from him since last Wednesday. I ring his phone twice a day, he never picks up. I'm kind of worried actually," I inform Iris.

" _Aww, I'm sure he's fine. Work for CCPN has been busy lately, maybe he's just caught up there,"_ Iris tries to reassure me, " _he is one of our best photographers after all._ "

I'm sitting in my apartment on the black, leather couch, watching as the crows gather at my window. There must be a nest nearby, since I have been ghosted by these stalker birds for 3 weeks now.

"Yeah," I mutter absently, "I'm sure he's fine."

I don't mean those words at all. After Iris and I hang up, I spend the rest of the night worrying, refusing to move from my place on the couch. Maybe he's avoiding me? I just don't know why he would do that. Maybe he just wants some space, which I am willing to give him. I'd do anything if it means us getting back to the way we used to be before the explosion.

As a fact, if I could go back in time and stop the particle accelerator from exploding, I would. Someone had made a huge mistake. Now I and many others were paying for that person's poor judgment.

On the topic of poor judgment, Tilly had finally swung the door open and stumbled in the door. I could smell the alcohol on her from my position on the couch.

I had tried countless times to stop her from throwing her life away, but it's hard to have a conversation with her whilst she is swaying on her feet.

I can't help but feel responsible for the sad, destructive path Tilly's life has taken. If I hadn't been in a coma, I could have stopped her.

"How's your day been?" I ask, trying to make conversation.

She glares at me, "better than yours."

"And how do you figure that?" I press.

"I have friends, you're sitting up here _alone_ on the couch," she snarks.

Ouch! My feelings!

"Describe these, 'friends' to me," I say sarcastically.

I'm trying to figure out if she's still hanging out with criminal crow dude, because if she's hanging around those kinds of people, she could get hurt. Or killed.

"Not a chance," she says gliding down the hallway and reaching for her bedroom door, "though I do believe you've met Jon."

"Who is Jon?" I jump to my feet and run down the hallway to grab her wrist, stopping her from entering her room.

"The guy who threatened you in your store the other day," she says, matter-of-factly, "I put him up to that, by the way."

Wait, what?

"Why would you do that?"

"Because you don't seem to get the message," she snatches her wrist from me and jumps inside her room, "we don't like you, stay away!"

She slams the door in my face.

I go over her words in my head, trying to figure out what on Earth I did to make her loath me so much. She had a guy threaten me with a gun!

I return to my position on the couch, and continue thinking.

"We don't like you, stay away!"

Her words echo through my head. Wait a minute, _we_? _We_ don't like you. _We_... was she _with_ Creepy Crow Jon? I think for a moment, trying to recall every time I had seen him, or them together. It all made sense. I was trying to take Tilly away from him, he was retaliating by scaring me.

This was both good news and bad news. I could go to the police, and have them use his hatred for me against him, to try lure him out and catch him. The bad is that my best friend is dating a psychopathic criminal who wants to kill me.

Either way, I couldn't describe this situation as fun.

Xx

" _Say my name, say my name!"_

This may be the only song I know every lyric to, and right now, I'm blasting it out of Ronda's speakers. And I may or may not be singing, _cough_ , screaming along with it.

As I have been for the past few weeks since I woke up, I have been refusing to allow the fact that everyone I used to love despise me and never want to see my face again get me down.

I'm confused. Does Derek hate me? I've just started assuming that he's mad at me. Why else would he be avoiding me like he was? Right now, I'm headed to his house to get answers.

The only person who I knew for sure wasn't pissed at me, was Iris. Speak of the devil.

My phone started ringing, cutting out my beautiful music and hurting my ears with the unnecessarily loud volume of my ringtone. It's been 2 days since I found out why Creepy Crow Jon is stalking me, I had tried going to the police, but I hadn't wanted to do it alone.

"Hey Iris, what's up?" I pick up.

"Hi! I'm sorry I didn't call you yesterday but I have great news! Barry woke up yesterday!" she immediately informs me with excitement.

"Wait, you mean, Barry Allen - Barry, as is, sleeping for 9 months Barry?"

"Do you know any other Barry's?" Iris sasses me.

Rude!

"Hey! I was just checking. Anyways, I'll have to meet him sometime," I say and Iris hummed along in agreement.

"Seems like you loose a problem, and I gain one. Or two..." I mumble.

"What happened?"

"I found out why that man with the gun in my store is after me, and I think Derek is avoiding me."

I explain everything that's going on.

"Why haven't you gone to my dad with this? We could be searching for that creep right now!" Iris responds, after hearing about my theory about Creepy Crow Jon.

"I don't know, nervous I guess," I sigh, "if I tell the police then it will feel real, and I don't think I can handle it once it's real."

"Aww, it's alright. I'm at the station now, do you want to come over and I'll help you through it?" Iris offers.

She really is a nice person.

"I would, but I'm kind of 45 minutes away from the city. I'm going to confront Derek on why he's avoiding me."

"No way! Well, I've gotta go, dad wants something. Good luck, and ask him about the double date if you get the chance."

"Kay, bye!"

After she hung up, I wasn't in the mood to sing Beyoncé anymore. Instead, I was nervous. I went over the plan in my head.

Knock on the door, offer him the pavlova that I made earlier, and then confront him whilst we eat. Food makes everyone happy, right? What could go wrong?

Squawk!

I had just pulled up on Derek's driveway, and opened my car door when I saw them. His roof was covered in crows, all carrying on loudly as they crowded his roof.

No, I still hadn't found a therapist. I keep telling myself, they're just crows, they don't have white eyes, and they have nothing to do with Creepy Crow Jon (the guy who has been stalking me, and threatening me). I've never been a very persuasive person.

Carrying the large box of pavlova under my arm, I walk up to the porch and approach the door. When I go to knock on the door, I notice that it's already cracked open. Apprehensively, I push open the door slowly. The old wooden door creaked and moaned loudly as I swung it open.

Then I saw _her_ , or should I say... _them_. I dropped the pavlova on the ground. I didn't know what to think. Should I be hurt, furious, upset? All three?

Derek and his _cousin_ , Francesca, were screwing on his kitchen bench. Right in front of me.

Gosh! I was so stupid, I really believed that painfully obvious _lie_ about her being his _cousin_. How long had this been going on?

I felt like screaming, but my fit of rage was cut short when the windows burst and shattered to pieces.

A storm of black feathers and loud cries erupted through the house. The crows flew in through every window, breaking gaping giant holes in the house. Once the flock flew out through the front door, I saw him. Creepy Crow Jon, in the flesh. His eyes were pure white, rolled back into his head. Just like all the crows I'd been seeing for weeks.

"I told you you wouldn't get away, the truth is, I've been watching you this whole time," he yells from his position in the shadows outside the wreckage of Dereks house.

He throws his hands in the air, and the crows swarm above him, flapping their wings in unison as they circle at the same speed. Suddenly, a realisation dawns on me. He could _control_ the crows.

All this time he had been spying on me? How could he do it? Since when do people have superhuman abilities?

Then he sprouts giant black wings. My jaw drops to the ground, the combination of hurt, fear and raging anger gives me a rush of adrenaline that I really should be using to run like hell. Throwing one hand forward, he points towards Derek with the gleam of a cold blooded murderer in his eyes. What was Creepy Crow Jon going to do, kill him? Even if he did, so what? Derek was a cheater, he deserved to die.

As much as I wanted to make Derek pay for lying to me, despite all the loss I had been through, no one deserved to die like this.

"Nooo!" I scream as I try to get to him before Jon.

I'm too late. The crows stormed through the house and began furiously pecking at his skin. I watched as the crows shred and tear his skin from his body and leave him to bleed and die. His screams fill the house, each pained sound ripping a chunk of hope and happiness from my soul, until he takes his final breath.

Then they go after Francesca. Two dying bodies lay on the dining table, surrounded by fallen wood, and the wreckage of a house.

Anger burns in my veins, I imagine a giant wave, sweeping through the house and drowning Jon, Derek and Francesca as it smashes everyone who has broken me.

I watch in confusion as water begins to rise into the air, pipes explode and all water stored in the house is pulled to me like a magnet. Then a surge of water radiates from around me, the wave wrecks through the house like a tsunami, falling just short of Jon as he spread his huge feathered wings and flies away, disguised by a flock of devilish crows.

The last thing I remember is the floating water flopping to the ground atop of me as I pass out.

Xx

I sit up and splutter out water. It was like drowning all over again. Heaving out the water that I didn't know I swallowed, I look around as my vision clears.

The memories flood back to me. The man, Derek and Francesca, the crows, the _wave_. This world was a whole lot more whacked up than I thought.

I can feel the tears stinging my eyes. Tilly is with a guy who wants me tortured, broken and dead. She couldn't care less.

Derek was all I had, the only reason I was holding up. He was a cheater.

My parents both bailed and left me.

I am destined to be alone. I sit on the ground, my hair damp and tangled in small pieces of wrecked. My clothes are torn and stained. My skin is covered in dust.

I look ahead at the two bodies lying in the table in front of me. Both are half dressed, but torn beyond recognition. It its a scene from a horror movie, and I'm in the centre of it.

This is all my fault. I broke down in tears then and there, before finally recollecting myself. I look around, thinking of the bodies as shells rather than people to spare me the pain of my ruthless guilt and despair. What confused me most was the state of the wreckage. I remember being drowned, drenched in water, yet everything was dry.

The bodies were covered in flies like they had been there for days.

I pull out my cellphone, it's screen had been cracked but I couldn't bring myself to care. I read the date.

It had been two days. I was out for two days, lying in a broken house with two dead bodies.

I can't stand the smell, I can't stand the pain, I couldn't do this alone. I pick up my phone and call Iris. No answer. I do the only other thing that I can think of.

I call the CCPD.

Xx

 **Well that escalated quickly. So, Barry is awake. If you're confused, when Hazel wakes up after the 'incident' it is between season 1 episodes 2 and 3. Barry is out trying to be a hero, catch metas and all that. Somehow he missed this one. I won't be following along with the episodes much, I'll probably just make up metas and stuff. Next chapter Hazel will finally meet Barry, so be excited.**

 **If you're mad that I still haven't given the bird man a name, don't worry, that's Cisco's job, and I will stop calling him Creepy Crow Jon soon.**

 **Thanks for reading, please review and tell me what you think!**

 **As always,**

 **lots of love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hello again. I'm back, no surprise there. This chapter Hazel finally meets Barry, so that's gonna be fun. Enjoy**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 5

I never heard the sirens, all I see are blue and red lights. If I had never met Derek, if he hadn't meant so much to me, none of these lights would need to be here.

If I had never met Derek, he would still be alive, as would Francesca. Sure, they did a bad thing. I did something worse. They are both dead, and it's my fault.

I hear the voices, I feel the touches, I see the faces, I just can't bring myself to respond. I thought I would have run out of tears hours ago, but they just keep coming.

My legs are numb from sitting in the same spot, and my whole body is trembling. Every time I close my eyes I see him being ripped into pieces. Because of me.

My throat is raw from crying and screaming, I just sit, tears silently falling and splashing to the ground.

I didn't even understand what happened. A man could control animals? Water could fly?

If I had discovered these abilities under any other circumstances, I would be excited. Now I'm just afraid. What could happen if they were used to hurt more people, what could ordinary people like me do against it?

Are there other people like Jon, people who have tremendous abilities that they use to hurt people and destroy lives?

Who is ordinary, who isn't? Hell, I don't even know if I'm ordinary.

A warm face somehow has made it through my barrier of misery, it seems familiar, but I don't look up. My face is red, puffy and tear stained, my hair is fluffy and tangled.

The man reaches out and lifts my chin, I have no strength left to fight him.

"It's going to be okay, come on, let's get you out of here," the man says warmly.

His voice is familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. He was a lier anyway, just like Derek. He told me it was going to be okay. It couldn't be okay. Could it?

No! I'm a horrible person. I deserve to sit here and stare at this mess for eternity.

He pulls me up and leads me out and away from the wreckage, sitting me down on a log where the house was out of view.

"What's your name?" he asks.

"Hazel Reed."

I see a look of recognition on his face as he pulls out his phone and sends a text.

"I'm not going to ask if you're okay, because I know the answer. Is there anything I can do for you?" the man asked.

"Why do you want to help me? I deserve to be alone," I say monotonously.

"You didn't do anything wrong," he says.

The man opens his mouth to continue, but I interrupt, "I didn't do anything right either. I didn't do anything at all. I should have saved him..."

I stare blankly at a tree for a moment before bursting into tears, "its all my fault!"

He moves to comfort me, however he jumps back when another officer approaches.

I watch the blurry scene play out before me.

"Detective West! Allen has finished analysing the bodies, he wants to see you!" the approaching officer demands.

West, as in, Iris's dad? That grabs my attention. I wonder if he was comforting me just because I was Iris's friend, or did he really meant what he said?

"This girl witnessed the scene, we need to help her calm down before we ask questions," West says.

Nope, I was just a witness to him, I'm always just a witness. Absolutely useless.

The only way I could help was to tell the truth, but as if they'd believe me as I ranted on about a man who could control crows and sprout wings. Or floating justice- seeking water. Still, it was worth a shot.

Both of them turn in surprise when I stop crying and try to make words.

"The man, he-" I sob, "crows, he could control the crows."

Detective West's eyes lit up in understanding, while the other cop shakes his head and storms off, muttering something about lack of respect.

"I'll be back," West promised.

"You don't believe me," I mutter between sobs.

"No, I believe, I just don't quite understand. I'll introduce you to someone who does," he smiles kindly before jogging off in the direction of the house.

 _His_ house...

The tears begin to flow again as I sit in the dark and silence.

Xx

 **Barry's POV**

All the evidence it there, it was a meta who caused all this suffering.

The slashes on the bodies suggest that they were pecked to death by birds. The feathers scattered around the scene prove that they were crows.

One dead crow was found lying beneath the wreckage, the way its face was distorted made it clear that it had crashed into a wall.

But why would crows attack a person?

To defend their nest? Maybe, except the amount of cuts, feathers and the damage that was caused suggested that there was more than one or two in the building.

Crows never attack in flocks, and for something like this to happen was nearly impossible. My best guess, a new meta human is in town, and has the ability to manipulate animals. Pacifically, crows.

The bodies were already deteriorating when we found them, meaning that they had been here for days before we arrived, and no one knew.

Officers also discovered a wrecked security camera and the footage was traced to a hard-drive where it had been stored.

The camera was located out the back of the house, pointed down at an odd angle.

A pair of white sneakers step into frame, before a flock of birds fly at the camera at high speed.

Wait, what's with their eyes?

Then the footage goes grey and fuzzy.

Replaying it over and over I finally pause it in time to catch the crows.

Each of the crow's eyes are white. Maybe I should get the dead crow to Cisco and Caitlin to run further tests, to see if there was anything there that could suggest whether they were manipulated into doing what they did.

I watch one last time as the white sneakers step into the frame. Promising to myself that I would catch this man, I make a copy of footage from the hard-drive and put it onto a small USB. Slipping it into my jacket, I make my way back to the scene.

"Barry!" Joe jogs in my direction, "there's a witness, she watched the whole thing. Makes it sound like a meta, and I don't know that first thing about metas. Come help me out?"

"Yeah, sure, but it's definitely a meta..." I say grimly, "lets see if she knows something that we don't already know."

We start walking down the dirt road, past the silver Honda.

"Just be careful with her Bar, she's really shaken up. Also, she's a friend of Iris's, Iris has been stressed out for days because this girl wasn't answering any of her calls and couldn't be found anywhere. Seems like she's in a bad place."

"Have you told Iris what happened?" I ask.

"Yeah, I texted her as soon as the girl told me her name. I think Iris is out with Eddie right now, so we don't have to worry about her showing up here."

I nod as I finally lay eyes on the witness, shoving off all jealous thoughts of Iris and Eddie. The girl is sitting on a small log facing away from us.

I can't stop thinking about the meta, and that what happened here was unfair, and possibly even my fault for not being here. This guy has killed two people, and no one except for this girl knew about it until two days later.

He could be anywhere by now, but something tells me he would be back.

He would come back for the girl that got away, and next time, I would be ready.

Xx

Once we reach the girl, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Why did Joe want me to do this, wasn't this someone else's job?

He stands to the side, waving his hand at me. Basically saying 'I'm out, you're on your own.'

I scoff at him and gesture for him to help, but he just stands to the side and smiles.

Deciding that standing behind her and contemplating for too long would weird, I just open my mouth and say something.

"Hi."

She jumps up and sprints at least five meters away. I instantly feel guilty.

Joe bites his tongue to keep from laughing at my failure, wordlessly judging me.

When she turns back around I see her face. She has bright blue eyes that are red and puffy from crying. Her face is wet with tears. Her clothes seem to be shredded, yet she is unharmed physically.

"Sorry, that was stupid. I didn't mean to scare you- I just-"

"It's fine," she cuts me off, offering a small smile, her voice is broken and raspy, "I do that a lot too. Bad social skills and all that..."

Humour. Is that a good sign, or a bad sign? I glance at Joe, and the girl follows my gaze. He nods his head giving me the 'go ahead.'

The girl finally looks away from Joe, confusion clear on her face.

"Detective West said you would believe me? You know what happened?" the girl asks me.

"Uhh," I turn my head to glare at Joe, "I have a few ideas. You said something to Joe- uh- Detective West about a crow? Can you explain?"

She nods, "this man has been harassing me for a while now, the crows would follow me everywhere. I thought I was going crazy and seeing things... he told me I would never escape from him. I'm not quite sure why he wants to see me hurt so badly, I think it has something to do with my friend Tilly. Anyway, he showed up here and... he grew wings. Big black feathery wings. Then the crows broke though the windows and started to tear apart my boyfriend and his... cousin. Then he left. Derek and Francesca are dead because this man wanted to hurt me. It's my fault..."

Wow. I can't help but feel sorry for her, the urge to reach over and give her a hug is overwhelming. What she told me confirms my theory about the crows, but it didn't get me any closer to how I was supposed to stop the meta.

"Oh yeah, his eyes... whenever he was controlling the crows his eyes rolled back into his head. I think he goes blind whenever he uses his abilities."

Well, that's how I am going to stop him.

I nod, "don't blame yourself, it's not your fault. Thank you for that. I've got to go, I'm sure Joe- uh- Detective West, will look after you.

The girl nods and waves goodbye.

I stood up and walked towards Joe, "I have to get to S.T.A.R. Labs. Will you be alright here?"

"Yep," Joe begins to approach the girl, "go."

I break into a jog down the street and around the corner. Once everyone is out of view, I flash back to the scene, pick up the dead crow and run to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Xx

"Uhh, Barry? Why did you bring a dead bird into the lab?" Caitlin says as she enters the room.

"I need you to run some tests, there's a new meta with the ability to manipulate crows. Can you use this to find out how he does it?" I say, looking down at the dead bird sitting on the table.

"Uhh, sure," Caitlin says, moving towards the dead animal, her face scrunched up in disgust, "Cisco!"

Cisco runs into the room

"What is it?" he asks and looks at the bird, "ew! Why would you bring that here?"

I pull the USB out of my jacket and hand it to Cisco, he takes it, staring at me with a confused expression.

I open my mouth to explain when my phone goes off. I pull it out and accept the call.

"Hey Joe, what's up?"

" _We've identified the Meta, his name is Jonathan Winston."_

"How do you know that?"

" _Hazel recognised him from a bunch of photos of criminals that we showed her_."

"Who is Hazel?" I ask.

 _"The witness, you know... Iris's friend?"_

"Oh, yeah, right. I've got to go, thanks Joe," I hang up.

Caitlin and Cisco are both glaring at me, demanding answers.

After I explain what happened and who Hazel was, Cisco comments, "so he just left? Why would he do that? By the sounds of it he planned to kill this Hazel chick, so what made him change his mind?"

Caitlin was busy running tests on the crow, so that left me to answer Cisco's question.

"Uh, maybe he got scared? Or maybe he just wanted to make the girl suffer, like the twisted murderous criminal he is."

Cisco shrugged, "you mock me now, but there's more to this than there seems. I have a feeling, and you all know what happens when I get a feeling!"

"We ignore it," Caitlin says, looking up from her work to glare at Cisco, "please, be quiet."

"Since you asked so nicely," Cisco grumbles to himself, taking the USB that I handed him to a computer and plugged it in.

I silently laugh at the display, "so... you guys think this guy will come back for Hazel?"

"I'm sure of it, my friend. And I have to perfect name for this meta!" Cisco resumes talking, " _Scavenger_!" he says in his best attempt at a narrator voice.

Both Caitlin and I snap our heads up, glaring at him for about the 5th time in as many minutes.

"What, you guys want to keep calling him 'Jonathan Winston?' Come on! What kind of a name is that?" Cisco defends himself.

I shake my head, pushing myself up from the wall and starting to walk out.

"Call me if that crow tells you anything else about Jon-"

Cisco cuts me off, " _Scavenger_!"

I glare at him once more before leaving the room.

Xx

 **Yay! Barry and Hazel met, but Hazel didn't even know it was him. This chapter was painfully difficult to write, but I did my best. If you don't like it, please review and tell me so that I can edit it. Thanks for reading! Enjoy your day!**

 **Much love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	7. Chapter 6

**Heyo! Someone reviewed and asked what caused Tilly's transformation. I realise I haven't covered that yet. I have a plan, but it might take a while to get Tilly to a point where she is ready to confess. It's part of the story, you will find out soon. Also, I'm still unsure whether I should throw Hazel and Barry in a relationship at some point, please review and tell me what you think. No more spoilers, on with the story!**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 6

(Hazel's POV)

Derek is _dead_.

I'm still not sure I believe it, and I certainly haven't accepted it. I've been at the scene for hours now, I'm still not sure what's happening. I continue to answer the questions that are thrown at me by various nameless faces. The one face that I have accepted, is Iris's dad, Detective West.

Currently, he is sitting beside me, rubbing circles onto many back. Seeing as I had met him just today, this would usually be weird. It's not though, I guess I just really need the confront.

Today has been an exception to all things I used to believe in, starting with a dead boyfriend, finishing with men with superhuman abilities.

As Detective West and the still nameless SCI who spoke to me earlier had both promised, no one believed me when I mentioned the crows.

Some people would look at me like I had three heads, others would insult me before walking away in rage and confusion.

What confused me more than the crows was the floating water. There was no evidence found to show whether it actually happened, apart from the strange fact that every pipe in what was left of the house was busted. But that could just be a coincidence, considering that the entire house had crumbled apart.

I haven't mentioned the water to a soul, I've spent the past few hours trying to convince myself that it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. Then again, I had convinced myself that I wasn't being stalked by crows, but apparently it was all real.

Thank god I didn't waste my money on a therapist.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when Detective West's phone begins to ring. The usually loud, obnoxious tune is drowned by the loud conversations between officers around us.

"Hello?" Detective West answers.

I can faintly hear the person on the other end of the phone.

" _Dad! I only just saw your text, is Hazel okay?_ " Iris barely pauses, " _I was busy with work, a friend picked me up in my break and I left my phone at CCPN."_

"That's okay, she's fine," he glances at me with concern, "but very shaken up."

" _Can I speak to her_?"

West hands me the phone, "it's Iris, she's worried."

I offer him a small smile, "thank you, Detective West."

He opens his mouth to say something, but he's a bit too late.

"Iris?" I say into the phone.

" _Hazel! What happened? Wait, no, that's insensitive of me. Are you okay?_ " Iris says softly, " _do you want me to pick you up_?"

I chuckle slightly at Iris's uncharacteristic word vomit. She usually acts so controlled.

"I'm fine, and yes, please do pick me up. I think they are going to make me leave Ronda for evidence, and I don't really feel like riding home in a police car," I pause, realising how spoiled and demanding I sounded. How do I fix this?

"But only come if you are free, because I would hate to interrupt your day," I add just to be polite.

Iris laughs at my poor attempt to cover up my discomfort, " _send me the address and I'm on my way._ "

"Thanks Iris, you're a life saver."

 _Unlike me._

" _See you soon. Wait, you are an_ hour _away?!_ _Why_ does _your-_ did _your boyfriend-_ ex _-boyfriend..._ " she goes quiet, realising the amount of painful mistakes she'd just made.

" _Wow, I'm sorry. I'm just going to hang up now. Stay strong, I'll be there as soon as I can,_ " Iris encourages.

"Cya soon," I say before hanging up.

"Here's your phone, thanks for letting me use it. Iris is coming to pick me up, if thats alright with you, Detective West?" I ask.

"Please, call me Joe. And that's perfectly fine with me," he says with a smile, "you've been here for more than long enough."

Xx

Joe had to leave about half an hour after the phone call with Iris for another emergency in the city. I am left alone with a bunch of randoms who think I'm a fragile, confused little girl who still believes in magic. It's been fun.

I haven't cried once in the past 15 minutes, and I'm proud of myself for that. I've been trying to block out the fact that I had watched someone die, but it's harder than it should be since every time I close my eyes I see blood, I hear the screams and I feel the emptiness that followed his death.

Im constantly on edge, expecting to see a white eyed crow everywhere I look. Every sound I hear is immediately registered to my brain as a threat, to be treated like the spawn of satan.

I can't help the feeling of excitement I feel when Iris pulls up in her car. I spring to my feet and walk over, I can feel the eyes of the officers on my back.

No one tries to stop me as I jump in Iris's car, unhappy about leaving Ronda the Honda behind.

"Thanks for this Iris, I think I would go insane if I had to stay in that place for another minute."

"You're welcome," she beams, clearly happy to help, "it's the least I could do."

"So, where to?" I ask.

"Where's your apartment, my dad tells me that rest is the best thing after a traumatic experience."

I give her my address, Iris starts the car and begins driving. I can't help but feel bad, the trip here was already one hour of driving, now she has to drive back for another hour. And worse yet, she has to deal with me.

"Speaking of my dad, you met him?"

"Yeah, he was really nice. The only one that believed what I had to say about-" I'm about to elaborate when I remember my promise to Joe.

 _ **Flashback**_

 _"You have to promise me, Hazel, you can not say a word about anything unordinary that you've seen here to Iris. I want to keep her out of it, so promise me," Joe pleads with authority, his expression is worried and caring._

 _He clearly only wants the best for his daughter, as do I._

 _"I promise, you can count on me," I tell him._

 _ **End of flashback**_

"You were saying?" Iris presses.

"It's nothing," I shut down unconvincingly.

Iris's face falls, guilt showing on her features, "sorry, I don't mean to be pushy. It's the reporter in me."

Ugh, now I've made her feel guilty, even though I was the one who just lied to her face.

"No, no, you're fine. It's really nice of you to care so much."

Iris beams at my forgiveness, "what are friends for?"

Friends.

Oh shoot, _friends_. I still hadn't told Iris about Tilly.

"So Iris, have I ever mentioned someone by the name of Tilly to you?" I say, trying to be calm.

Hopefully she takes this well.

"No..." she shakes her head, before exclaiming, " _ohmygosh_! Have you got siblings living with you in your apartment?! I can't wait to meet them!"

"Uh, no. Tilly is a friend. Or, was a friend. Remember that mean best friend of mine that I told you about briefly when we first went I Jitters?"

Iris nods, but looks at me with confusion, gesturing for me to explain.

"Okay, so... Tilly and I had been best friends since 12th grade, she was with me the night the particle accelerator exploded. When I woke up, she was a completely different person as I've already told you. She still lives in my apartment with me, but we hardly ever talk. I still don't know what caused her to change, though... So, if she's at my apartment while you're there, try to ignore her, as well as the overwhelming urge to slap her across the face with an Atlas."

Iris scoffs at my crack about the Atlas, but otherwise nods along solemnly.

She asks a few questions about Tilly as we approach the city, before changing the subject to favourite songs.

Xx

I fight back mock tears when Iris's car takes the parking space allocated for Ronda, my dearest Honda.

Quietly pacing through the foyer and up the stairs, we reach my apartment.

"Do you seriously have to climb all these stairs everyday?" Iris complains.

"Yep," I say as I unlock the door and open it.

I see Tilly sitting on the couch, watching something on Netflix. Crap, I was kind of hoping Tilly wouldn't be home. Now I have to introduce her and Iris.

I step through the door, Iris follows right behind me.

"Hey, Tilly!" I say, leaning on the couch behind her.

She's watching The Vampire Diaries. I can feel a pang of sadness in my heart. We used to watch the Vampire Diaries every night together before the accident. I wipe away the tears forming in my eyes, I've cried enough for today.

"Tilly, meet Iris, Iris, this is Tilly," I smile, doing my best not so show how forced my joyful emotions are right now.

"Hi Tilly, I've heard a lot of great things about you," Iris says, completely lying.

I almost laugh, but bite it back, not wanting to hurt Tilly more than she already has been.

Tilly smiles at Iris and waves, before turning back to the television.

I lead Iris down the hallway, quickly escaping the awkwardness which was Tilly.

I open the door to my bedroom, quickly showing Iris around as she promised to hate me forever if I didn't. Once she was satisfied, I lead her down to the forth door.

I open the door and climb the concrete stairs to the roof. The cool breeze hits me like a wall, the setting sun shines dimly over us like a thin blanket.

"Woah!" Iris exclaims as she nears the side of the building, "climbing those stairs is definitely worth the view."

I smile and hum in agreement, staring down at the city around us. The sun is almost completely set and the cool night air burns our faces, the street lights have been automatically triggered below us.

We admire the city in silence for a while, before beginning a long conversation.

Our topics vary, completely random. Anything to keep me distracted from the pain of my recent loss. Eventually, we somehow stumble into the idea of planning lunch together tomorrow.

"You know what, it's Monday in two days. That means you don't have work, since you've already told me you have no photoshoots for the next 3 days. You are going to finally meet Eddie! I mean, it's about time... this is officially happening tomorrow!"

"I don't get a say in this, do I?" I ask.

"Nope," she grins to herself, before her eyes open wide with a familiar mischievous glint.

I've known Iris long enough to know that the excited expression on her face that I'm witnessing right now is followed by a usually disastrous idea.

"Iris, should I be planning my funeral?"

Iris throws me a confused look, before laughing at whatever expression I have on my face.

"No, what makes you ask that?" she asks, her eyes still sparkling.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"I have a better idea," Iris says confidently as she moves on from my question, finally expressing her thoughts.

"Uh huh?" I ask nervously.

"You, me, Eddie and Barry, lunch at Smoaky's, 1:00 Monday."

Smoaky's is a nice little resturant that Iris and I found one time when we went driving through the city in Ronda. We promised ourselves we would go to eat there sometime, but we never got around to it.

"I don't get a say in this, either," I sigh.

"Nah uh, no backing out. It will be fun, and it will keep your mind off of... uh-"

My eyes thoughtfully trace the edge of the roof, maybe it would be more painless to commit now...

"Fine, as long as you include me and this Barry character, who you have told me so very much about. No getting all lovey dovey with your boyfriend. It's going to be awkward enough, if you go off with Eddie... ugh. Just don't do it," I say with an authoritative tone.

"Deal," Iris says happily, sticking out her hand.

We shake on it.

After talking for a bit longer, Iris decides that it's about time she leaves, wishing me a good night.

"If you need me to drive you somewhere, or if you need someone to talk to at anytime about anything at all, just call me. I am here for you," Iris promises me, before following me out of my apartment.

We shared an emotional hug before I step back inside, bid her farewell and shut the door.

I walk back into the living room, Tilly is still sitting on the couch watching The Vampire Diaries.

I plop down on the sofa beside her, focusing on the tv.

Tilly shuffles slightly beside me and I look away, trying to avoid a painful glare which I had assumed was coming my way.

Because of my incorrect assumption and fear to confront her, I miss the warm, nostalgic gaze that Tilly throws my way.

Looking back at the tv, I pretend that I'm watching the episode. Truth be told, I hadn't yet caught up with Tilly in terms of tv series, so instead of watching the show, I am lost in my thoughts, thinking back to Derek's death.

I begin to silently cry as I had at the scene earlier today. It seems like whenever I'm left alone with my thoughts I return to my state of self loathing misery.

Somewhere along the way, I fall asleep on the couch, tears still rolling down my flushed cheeks.

I'm too far gone in a deep sleep to notice when Tilly scoots closer to me, wrapping me in a comforting hug, tears staining her face also.

Derek is dead.

With the help of friends, new and old, I am one step closer to accepting that. I just hope that tomorrow is better, and contains less tears.

Xx

 **Ahhhh! My soul hurts from writing that last bit. Is that just me? I think it's just me. Maybe it's just me being nostalgic because TVD is overrrrrr. If you haven't seen that show, watch it. I have never cried so much whilst watching a tv show in my life. (Not sponsored lol)**

 **I'm super excited for Hazel to properly meet Barry, and I'm also excited to start writing about Barry, as the flash. The story has only just begun mwahaha! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed! It means a lot to me. Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!**

 **As always, lots of love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	8. Chapter 7

**Heyyy y'all! I'm back to chuck another chapter at you! Soo, the timeline in this story is officially severely messed up. And I have no desire to fix that because it's so flipping confusing. So, if you notice a mistake, please tell me about it, and I'll see what I can do to fix it, but other than that, we're just going ignore it. Okay? Okay. Enjoy the chapter!**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 7

(Set during episode 3)

Where am I?

I sit up sharply, my vision is foggy from sleep. Looking around with what's left of my vision, I recognise my living room.

I slept on the couch? I never do that...

My memories from yesterday flood back to me, starting with two cold, lifeless bodies, and ending with me sitting here with Tilly watching the tv.

A warm brown blanket lays over my lower half. Where did this come from? I couldn't remember getting up in the night to fetch a blanket...

This was one of life's many mysteries that I just couldn't be bothered to solve.

Just then Tilly strides into the living room and sits on a white stool at the kitchen bench, immediately pulling out her phone. She completely ignores my presence.

I get up and go to make my coffee, as I do every morning.

"Coffee?" I offer Tilly, pulling her favourite yellow mug out of the cupboard and waving it in front of her.

"Sure," she says looking up from her phone, before looking down again.

I make coffee in silence, eyeing the window with fear. I've been expecting the white eyes crows to show up any minute now, and as soon as I see them, I plan to smash open the window and slap them a bunch, hoping that somehow I am damaging the man who murdered Derek.

I finish making coffee, and there is still no sign of the crows. Slightly on edge, I take a seat on my stool beside Tilly, pushing her coffee in front of her.

"Thanks," she says, placing her phone down on the bench and reaching for her coffee.

Worried for my well-being, I have to ask Tilly about Jon, the man who murdered Derek. I need to know whether he is still after me, and hopefully Tilly can help me with that.

"So, are you still friends with this Jon guy?" I ask.

She glares at me, "hell _no_. I heard about what happened, I told him I never wanted to see him again. I wanted him to scare you off, not destroy your life."

Wow, she still cares? Maybe she hadn't changed as much as I thought...

What can I say now that won't sound sarcastic or teasing? I wrack my brain for ideas.

"Huh. Thanks Tilly. Anyway, are you and Jackson still in touch?"

Jackson was her boyfriend all through high-school, until the cheating thing happened and brought us together in 12th grade. Tilly had eventually forgiven him, he was her friend all through university and after.

"Yeah, he moved to Starling while you were asleep."

With that, she picked up her mug and strode back down the hall to her room, closing the door quietly behind her.

I don't know how long I sat there on that stool, even after I finished my coffee. I was half waiting for the stalker birds to come back for me, to rip my flesh from my body and leave me to bleed out and die, just like they did Derek.

I was also thinking back to the day that the man attacked. The guy has wings, so if he wanted to get me, he would have me by now. It is as if my life is a game to him.

He seems to be staying low after all the panic that the murder of Derek and Francesca stirred up, hopefully I won't see him for a few more days.

My thoughts wonder from the man, to Derek and Francesca. He cheated on _me_ , with _her_. I would never know how long he had been lying to me, but I suspect he lost faith and gave up on me somewhere along the way while I was in my coma. He'd probably moved on just like everyone else in my life had.

But I am fine with that, if people needed to move on, it would be selfish for me to expect them to wait around, not knowing if I would ever actually wake up. What upsets me is that he used me while I was weak and vulnerable, he lied to me while he was the only person left who I thought I could trust. If I hadn't met Iris before his death, I would probably be doing worse than Tilly.

I shake my head, not allowing the tears burning behind my eyes to surface. Being left alone with my thoughts right now is dangerous, I need someone to talk to.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I scroll down until I find Iris's name.

I'm about to press call when my phone starts to vibrate and blast out bad music. Iris's name lights up the screen in bold white letters. I hit the accept button, frantic to put an end to the screeching ringtone which was currently molesting my ears.

"Hey Iris, I was literally just about to call you."

"Hazel! Do you want to catch up? I have a day off work today, but everyone I know is busy. Also, I think you could use some company after yesterday."

"Sure," suddenly, a brilliant idea jumps into my head, "you know, I'm in desperate need of a trip to the shops. Want to come?"

Iris squeals in delight, "yes! Why hadn't I thought of that? This is going to be great!"

"I'll see you at my place in 15?" I request.

"You got it! I'll be in front of your apartment," Iris is still squealing, "see you soon!"

"Kay," I say before hanging up.

I quickly remove myself from my stool, wash up my mug and race down to my bedroom.

With desperation, I flick through my clothes, searching for something to replace the pyjamas which I am currently wearing. Finally, I settle on a white t-shirt, a light denim jacket and high waisted grey and white checkered shorts.

Quickly pulling my hair into a single braid at the back of my head and praying that it won't explode without added coconut oil, I skip out the door with my brown leather bag.

Flying down the stairs and through the foyer, I exit my apartment building and wait impatiently for Iris to show up. On time as always, Iris's car pulls up and I climb in. I'm acting overly happy as I am still trying to convince myself that I'm not about to burst into tears, and that my life is full of sunshine. There is not a sad bone in my body!

"Heyo!" I say as I swing open the door to the passenger seat.

"Wow, you look great!" Iris complements, "you're also in a surprisingly good mood."

"Hah, well, you should have seen me this morning, I was a mess. Anyway, lets go!" I respond, plugging my phone into her radio with an AUX cord.

I blast out my playlist including _Hotel_ _Motel_ , _Yeah_ by _Usher_ , and a bunch of _Fetty_ _Wap_ songs as we drive to the mall.

I don't think that Iris suspects anything, but I only ever play these songs when I'm trying to drown my negative emotions. Songs like these, my favourite being ' _I_ _Don't_ _F***_ _With_ _You_ by _Big_ _Sean_ , help me forget about my problems and focus on the here and now.

Music also gives me an excuse to cry. I claim that the tears in my eyes are there because I am really passionate about music. Unfortunately, I'm barely fooling myself with my fake, gleeful emotions. A wall of tears is building up behind my eyes, and it is threatening to overflow.

Xx

So far, our shopping trip had been a success.

Once we got to the stores, we immediately rushed to the coffee shop to get a delicious meal. Iris is dying to talk to me about something, as she keeps hounding me about sitting down somewhere quiet because she has some ' _extraordinary_ _news_!'

Finally, she decides on a small restaurant selling " _the_ _world's_ _best_ _Italian_ _food_!" As soon as we sit down Iris begins talking in a hushed, but super excited voice.

"Have you heard of the Streak?" Iris asked, I can hear her passion for the topic in her voice.

The name sounds familiar, maybe some kind of club I went to when I was in University?

"No, is that some kind of club?" I inquire.

Iris laughs, "no! It's a man. He-"

I cut her off, a horrified expression invading my features, "I feel like this man does some really inappropriate things to be known as, 'the _Streak_.' _Please_ , don't continue."

Iris huffs, "he _saves_ people! He is a hero."

"Then why haven't I heard of him?"

"That's the thing, he can run like, super fast. They call him the Streak because he moves so fast that all you see is a blur."

I suddenly feel uncomfortable. By the sounds of it, I was right, there are others like the man who murdered Derek. A man with super speed! Someone like that could destroy the entire city, or murder thousands of people before anyone even noticed was happening. I struggle to wrap my head around it.

"Hah! That kind of stuff just doesn't happen, and also, what makes you say he's a hero? You do realise that he could cause extreme damage, and that people like you and me are _powerless_ against him!" Iris looks hurt by my immediate opinion against the so called 'hero', but putting her faith in someone so uncontrollable was dangerous.

Guilt washes over me as I realise that she doesn't know how Derek really died. She thinks that Derek was stabbed, she doesn't know what these people with abilities are capable of. What if she gets hurt because she puts her trust in one of _them?_

I could protect her if I told her the truth, but I made a promise not to. Promises are not to be taken lightly, at least, that's what my parents always taught me.

I continue to try and scare her away from the topic of super humans, "also, people don't just help others for the heck of it. This man, myth or not, sounds kind of shady to me."

Iris glares at me, "well, believe what you want. I think we can trust him. I'm writing a blog, by the way. It's a lot to handle, considering I do enough writing for CCPN. But this is a message that I think everyone needs to hear."

"A blog? That's awesome! But what are you writing about?" I inquire cluelessly.

"Ugh, seriously?" Iris rolls her eyes at me.

I blink a few times, extremely confused.

Iris huffs before explaining, "I'm _writing_ about the _Streak_! Saving people in the blink of an eye," Iris flicks her hair over her shoulder dramatically.

Iris seems really passionate about this, and I believe in pursuing your passions. It just hurts me to think that a man like this can be called a hero, whilst someone else with similar abilities is a murderer. To me, those who can't be trusted are to be seen as threats. When I don't rid my life of threats, people get hurt and I am constantly afraid. I'm tired of being afraid, I just want to see the light.

"Okay, do what you want. Just don't blame me when this guy turns out to be a public menace," I say.

I've had a bad first experience with these gifted people. I hope we can get rid of them all soon, because I'm pretty sure that a lot more people than just Derek and Francesca will die if we keep them around...

Other than that _debate_ , I had fun.

Not wanting to spend too much money, I had only bought two things so far.

The first was a strapless mid-drifty top, and my favourite of the two, a cute, short blue dress. Iris kindly told me that it brought out my blue eyes.

Currently, I'm lining up for the elevator. Iris and I had spilt up about five minutes ago, apparently she needed to get something, and she made it clear she didn't want me to know what it was.

I watch as a women climbs into the glass elevator, followed by an admittedly ugly man. I begin to look away, when the women begins flailing her arms and screaming in fear. I watch in horror as the man transforms into a green, revolting gas. I rush to the front of the line an pound on the clear glass door, watching as the women falls to her knees and dies right before my eyes. I step back, my limbs feel heavy. I can't do anything to help her, I am forced to simply watch.

Once again, I'm just a witness. Absolutely useless.

The elevator door opens and the man reforms, jogging off in the other direction. I fall back, catching myself on a nearby silver rail. My heart is pounding, and my mind races a million miles an hour. This experience has for sure given me a phobia of super-humans.

Then, I see _him_ for the first time.

A bright golden light whooshes through the mall, the sudden gust blows me back another few centimetres. Out of nowhere, a man appears, crouching over the women's dead body. He is wearing nothing but red leather and a mask, a lightning bolt emblem on his chest. He moves his hand to one of the pieces on his ear, quietly speaking to someone over some kind of communication device.

I back away, my body trembling in absolute terror. This man could _hurt_ me, this man could _destroy_ the city. I am _powerless_ against him. My heart pounds fiercely against my chest, my breathing becomes short and sharp. I look around, searching for the quickest escape. Who am I kidding? I am trying to out run someone who could practically teleport.

When I look back, he is gone. I look around for any sign of the golden light, but I see nothing. I am safe.

I let out a breath that I didn't know I had been holding and pull out my phone to call Iris. I ask her to meet me back in the car park.

Regaining control my breathing, I continue to reassure myself. It's okay, they are gone, we're all safe.

Xx

"Iris!" I call, waving my hands wildly in the air.

It had been half an hour since I witnessed the attack, I had unfortunately been called back by the police to give a statement.

I had been distraught for a while, before picking myself up. I've had to deal with enough death this week to last a lifetime, but as they say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

I'm standing in front of Iris's car, waiting for her, while Iris is walking around, looking for me. I continue to wave my hands at her until she finally notices me.

"Hazel!" Iris exclaims, "I heard the Streak was here, did you see him?"

"I saw him, alright. Did you also hear that a women _died_?! This is why you can't _trust_ these people, you shouldn't write about this man, Iris! You could get _hurt_!" I stress.

Iris pulls me into a hug, "I know you only want the best for me, Hazel. I really believe in this guy, but I understand where you're coming from. My blog is anonymous, I'll be fine. Now, are you okay, you've been through a lot in these past few days."

I hug Iris back, my arms are still trembling uncontrollably. If Iris really thinks she has to do this, I will support her. Despite being utter petrified of these people, I would let this go. Iris is all I really have left, after all.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll support you and your blog, you seem to really think this man can inspire people. Anyways, would you mind taking me back to my place?" I ask.

"Sure," Iris says as she helps me into the car, before climbing into the driver seat.

Xx

Iris had to run off to do something for Eddie once she dropped me off, although she had clearly wanted to stay with me until she was sure that I would be fine.

I sit in my apartment, alone. Tilly was out, probably drunk at some kind of club with all of her friends.

Suddenly, an idea pops into my head. Said idea causes me to go digging through my wardrobe, finding a bunch of old junk that I didn't even know that I owned. Once I find the red, dusty speaker I place it on the kitchen bench. I switch it on, plug in my phone and find my sad music playlist.

For times like these, _Mad_ _World_ and _Fix_ _You_ are my go to ' _sit_ _in_ _a_ _dark_ _room_ _and_ _cry_ ' songs. For the longest time, I sat in the dark. Mad at Derek, upset about the woman at store's death, and terrified of the men with abilities.

I simply sway to the sad music, occasionally singing along, as tears rolled down my cheeks and I cry away my emotions. This might seem weak, or whiney to people, but I do it whenever I feel really stressed out. Crying helps me release my emotions without resorting to violence to cruelty to others.

It's dark out by the time that I feel stable enough to continue my day like a normal human being.

I quickly whip up some fried rice, leave a bowl in the fridge for Tilly. I eat my warm meal before climbing into bed and getting some truely well deserved rest.

God, please be kind tomorrow.

Then I remember. _Tomorrow_ , I have to go out for lunch with Iris, Eddie and Barry Allen. Tomorrow will possibly be the most awkward day of my life.

Xx

 **Okay, so this was really just a fill in chapter. It was kind of boring, I admit. It is still kind of boring, even after I ulpdated it and added another thousand words to try and make it better. I was originally going to write about the lunch date with Iris, Eddie and Barry in this chapter, but I figured that it would take more than one day for Hazel to get to a state where she could go out and meet new people, after what I've put her through. Heh, I'm a horrible person. I also needed a way to have Hazel believe in the Flash.. so this was my idea. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and get hyped for the next chapter, it's going to be great. Thanks for reading.**

 **Much love as always,**

 **Yaysies536**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hello! This chapter has got me the most excited by far. Hazel and Barry finally meet, properly, and it is going to be glorious! Hopefully I can write this well, because I have ideas swimming around in my noggin, and I really need to move on with the story. Anyways, enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Chapter 8

(Between episodes 3 and 4)

 _Knock! Knock! Knock!_

I moan as my eyes slowly open, I had been abruptly torn from a beautiful dream. I roll over in my bed, planning to ignore the pounding on my door.

The knocking on my door continues, refusing to seize, before the person on the other side of the door begins violently thrashing, my door rattling dangerously under the force.

" _HAZEL! Your dumb ass alarm has been going off for half an hour!_ " Tilly's voice booms, only slightly muffled by the closed door, " _turn it off!_ "

I rub my eyes, enjoying the silence after Tilly had finally stopped abusing me and my door. The silence barely lasts a second before the shrill scream of my alarm erupts through my room.

"Ughnng," I say as I scramble to press the button to end my suffering.

After taking a few moments to wake up, I remember the reason that my alarm had been going off in the first place.

I throw myself off of my bed, only to be seduced with Oshi's adorableness. After giving Oshi the attention she deserves, I race to my cabinet where my phone is on charge. Pressing the home button, I patiently wait for the large white numbers to flash across the screen. 12:27pm.

Mondays are usually my sleep in days, unless I have a photo shoot or plans.

Today is one of those days when I have plans. I have to be ready in, I revisit the clock, 23 minutes because Iris is picking me up. _Crap_.

I have a quick body shower being careful not to wet my hair. If my hair got wet it would never dry in time. After covering myself in my favourite strawberry perfume, I rush back into my room, dressed in only a black towel.

I flick through my clothes, contemplating what to wear. I finally decide on fitting denim jeans, a loose button up forest green shirt and brown leather boots.

I glare at my reflection in the mirror, wishing my hair could be normal and not poof up to the size of a lions mane whenever I try to leave it out.

Mad at the world, I make a last second decision to pull it up into a high ponytail, the shorter strands of hair that couldn't make it into the ponytail fall around the frame of my face.

After applying a little bit of makeup and eye-liner, I give my reflection a nod of approval before grabbing my leather bag and heading outside.

The police still have Ronda, my trusty Honda, as evidence from the scene of Derek and Francesca's murder, despite the fact they they have already put both of their deaths under the name of Jonathan Winston.

Because of this misfortune, Iris has promised to drive me wherever I need to go whenever she can. Her dad had promised to get Ronda back for me soon.

Just now, Iris has pulled up in her car, my favourite songs readily blasting out of the speakers. She kicks the door open for me, and I slide in.

"Hey Hazel! Are you excited?" Iris says, turning down the music.

"Eh, a little bit. I'm more nervous," I say, reaching for the volume nob on her radio, "turn it up! Music helps me calm my nerves."

Iris revs the engine and we drive off into the city.

Xx

The small cafe comes into view and Iris, being Iris, made sure we got there first. A giant orange and yellow sign hangs above the door, confirming our destination. As we step inside I am amazed by the atmosphere of the small cafe.

Small wooden circular tables are surrounded by red cushioned chairs, soft music plays in the background. The warm, yellow lighting of the room makes me feel safe and comfortable.

Iris and I move to the counter where a short elderly women beams at us with knowing, stormy grey eyes.

"Can I help you?" she asks in a smooth voice.

"Uh, yeah," Iris steps forward, taking the lead, "I booked a table under the name 'West?'"

"Right this way," the lady says as she stands and stumbles across the wooden floor.

We thank her when we reach our reserved table, and she leaves us be, resuming her position at the counter.

"This place is great!" I whisper to Iris, afraid that if I speak too loudly the calm atmosphere will shatter.

"I know, right?" Iris replies softly.

I am sitting across from her, knowing that Eddie would want to sit beside her, being her boyfriend and all that. I had made Iris promise to include me in conversations, since I didn't know either of the other guys. I didn't want this to be more awkward than it needed to be.

"Soo.. Dad told me that you've met Barry," Iris says, "why didn't you tell me?"

Wait, _what_?

"Uhh, I haven't?" I say, but it's more of a question than a statement.

"Huh. Well dad says he spoke to you for a bit when the police found you at the uh... scene," Iris trails off, not wanting to upset me by resurfacing bad memories.

"I spoke to a lot of people that day, Iris," I explain, "the only person I remember is your dad."

Iris nods, "it doesn't really matter anyway, you'll meet him _again_ soon."

We continue to talk, mostly about how we've been keeping Eddie and Iris's relationship from her dad. Just then, the small bronze bell above the door rings, signalling someone's entry. I swivel around in my seat to see Eddie standing just in front of the glass door, his eyes scanning the area, looking for us. Finally, he meets Iris's gaze, acknowledging the lady at the counter with a smile before heading our way.

Xx

"Hey, Iris," Eddie greets Iris with a kiss before looking up at me.

"Hi, Hazel," he says as he sits down, nodding in my direction, "it's nice to finally meet you."

"You too," I smirk, "I've heard a lot about you, Iris seems to think very highly of you and she _talks_. A _lot_."

Iris glares icy daggers in my direction.

Eddie chuckles, "she tells me a _lot_ about you, too."

Iris turns and slaps him on the wrist.

"So now that you've bonded over your shared love for teasing me," Iris drawls, "where is Barry?"

"Late as always," Eddie grumbles, before launching into a conversation about which meal we would each buy.

After fifteen minutes of undecidedness, we finally settle on a final decision of our meals. I would be ordering a chicken chilli salad, Iris wanted a ham and salad wrap, while Eddie wanted the beef sandwich. I have gotten to know Eddie quite well, he was a nice guy and I can appreciate why Iris loves him as much as she clearly does. There is still no sign of this, apparently _mythical_ Barry Allen, which can only be seen, or in my case, _remembered_ , if you are in the right place at the right time.

Suddenly, the glass door flies open, the bell rings violently at the sudden impact. The old lady at the counter jumps back in fright.

A young man, looking about the age of Iris or myself, stumbles into the store, apologising to the lady at the counter repetitively before scanning the room as Eddie had. Finally, his gaze lands on our table. I immediately recognise him from the scene where Derek... you know the story. The CSI beams when he sees Iris, but his expression falls as he glances across to Eddie, holding her with his hand around her waist.

"And that would be Barry," Iris sighs, shaking her head at his incredibly awkward entry.

 _Ooooh_ , so that's what Joe meant when he told Iris I had met him before. I hadn't been quite myself, or in a stable state of mind, when we first met, and he had been clearly distracted by the drama around him, but hey, at least I _kind_ of know who he is.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late... again," he apologises as he reaches the table and slides into the seat beside me.

"Hey there Barry, nice of you to show up," Iris glares at him, he ducks his head to avoid her menacing stare.

Iris had said that ten long seconds after Barry had already apologised, I almost snort at her delay.

"You were a bit _late_ with that snark, Iris," I tease her, coughing when I realise the accidental pun I had made, "pun _definitely_ not intended. God that was horrible."

Iris and Eddie chuckle along, and Barry finally notices me.

"Hey, I'm Barry Allen," he says, smiling a bright, contagious smile.

I turn to face him fully, my high ponytail flicking slightly as my head spins. He jumps back in surprise when he finally recognises my face.

"Wait a minute... I know you," confusion flits across his features, "how do I know you?"

I stick my hand out in greeting, "hi! You met me a few days ago, I was that sobbing, pathetic girl who cried for hours straight at the scene of my boyfriend's murder," I realise how depressing that had sounded and a few short moments later, I add, "but you can call me Hazel."

Iris snorts at my failure of an introduction.

Barry blinks twice before another look of recognition passes through his eyes, and he takes my hand and shakes it, "oh yeah, I remember now. I'm sorry for your loss, Hazel. Forgive me for not recognising you immediately. You look..." his eyes quickly glance up and down in my direction, "different."

A brief moment passes and I turn my head back to Iris, who is currently staring at me like I have three heads.

"Yeah, uh. Well, Hazel, that was an interesting way to introduce yourself."

Iris pauses and purses her lips before continuing, "but to be fair, you've never been too great at introductions," Iris says, obviously referring to the time I frightened her the first time I approached her at Jitters.

Iris smirks at my look of mock hurt.

"So Barry, I've told you about Hazel. She was also put into a coma on the same night you were," Iris continues.

He glances in my direction. I try to read his expression. Intrigue? Or is that suspicion? He doesn't say anything and looks back to Iris who continues talking.

"But you two can bond over that later. First, we are ordering food," Iris demands, her brown eyes snapping to Barry, "hurry up and decide Bar, we've been waiting for ages."

Eddie and Iris break into a conversation which I try to follow, but I can't quite hear what they are saying. Barry, beside me, is too interested in his menu to pay any attention to the conversation playing out in front of us. I sit awkwardly in silence, waiting for a waiter to come around and take orders.

It's going to be a long day.

Xx

Barry ended up ordering some kind of lasagna, which was a weird choice for lunch. But who am I to judge? Sometimes I get weird cravings for cereal at dinner time, so I can relate to his weird lunch choice.

The whole time, Iris and Eddie are talking, which was exactly what Iris had promised would not happen.

I finished my salad rather quickly. It was a smaller meal than I expected, and I was super hungry. Barry also wolfs down his lasagna, despite its giant size. Is his appetite usually this big?

I glance at Iris and Eddie's meals, they are both barely touched. Barry seems to notice at the same time as I do and we share and awkward glance.

A few moments later, Barry turns to me and asks, "Iris tells me that you were in a coma?"

I smile slightly, I knew this conversation was coming, "yeah," I turn to face him, "I was at the docks with a friend when the explosion happened. I guess I got hit pretty hard on the head and fell in the water. They say it's a miracle that I didn't drown."

Barry narrows his eyes suspiciously, "how long were you underwater for?"

I sigh, "no one really knows. Or at least, I don't. I never really asked. Like I said, my friend was with me at the time, she called for help immediately when she couldn't find me."

He nods his head, "has anything... uh, _unexplainable_ , occurred since you woke up from the coma?" he continues to inquire.

Geez, he is either _really_ genuinely curious, or he is searching for a certain answer from me. I have been questioned a lot in the passed few days, and I've learned to recognise when someone is searching for something in particular.

I shoot him a confused look, "no, why do you ask?"

But some memory buried deep in my subconscious begs to differ. Suddenly my mind flashes back to the strange water on the day of Derek's murder.

Barry's eyes open wide and he closes off for reasons unknown to me, "no reason."

Okay then?

Despite my genuine confusion and suspicion about Barry's fascination with 'unexplainable' occurrences, he turns out to be one of the friendliest people I have ever met.

He is always smiling, his presence is like a beacon of light in the room.

Barry and I share an enjoyable conversation about work, as well as a few other brief, casual topics. When I curiously ask about his determination to become a forensic scientist, he briefly mentions his dad, before becoming defensive and closed off. I conclude that it's a touchy subject and move on.

He seems to be pleasantly surprised when I share with him that I'm an artist, even more so when I mention that my store is in the same block as Jitters.

"I don't know how I've missed it all these years," he says, "I'll be sure to pop in sometime. I've always been kind of pathetic at painting, it never seizes to amaze me how skilled some people are with a brush."

I laugh in agreement, "I always used to suck at art, but I enjoy painting more than anything. I had to work super hard to get a steady hand, it was my childhood dream to become an artist. I still struggle to see myself as someone other than an artist, even as an adult today. I guess I'm still a child at heart, after all these years."

Barry smiles, "aren't we all?"

Xx

Eventually, Barry and I run out of conversation starters that we are comfortable with, seeing as we just met, and return to awkward silence. Iris eventually notices me glaring daggers into the side of her head, and offers me an apologetic glance. If she thinks she's getting away with this...

I glance at the clock hanging high on the wall behind the elderly woman at the counter. It reads 1:45pm.

Maybe I should-

 _Bing_!

Eddie's phone vibrates in his jacket pocket and slips it out onto the table. He looks up with a regretful expression before standing up.

"There's a robbery in progress, I better get going," Eddie says, giving Iris a peck on the lips before turning to me,"nice to meet you Hazel," he nods his head at Barry, "Barry."

What's with those two?

"I better get going too," Barry stands, his long lanky figure towering above us, "they'll probably need a CSI at the scene. You never know, I might even be on time."

Iris shakes her head and mutters, "as if," under her breath before calling out, "bye Bar!"

He turns around and waves before bounding out the door like an excited puppy.

"We should get going too," I say, making a mental sticky note to lecture Iris about the awkward, painful torture that she just forced Barry and I to endure.

Once I approach the woman, I ask for the check and she helps me through it. Finally, Iris and I make it out the door.

"So, that was fun, right?" Iris tries to draw enthusiasm from me.

"Uh huh. Apart from the fact that you broke your promise. Barry and I had to talk, _literally_ the whole time."

Iris frowns, "Eddie and I included you, didn't we?"

I scoff, "yeah, for about half of a conversation."

Iris's face falls and I realise that she really had tried.

"But you know what? I forgive you," I say, "it was fun watching you and Eddie. You two are _adorable_ together."

Iris's smile returns and she blushes uncontrollably. Our moment was ruined by a phone going off. Why is it always _phones_? Iris draws out her phone and reads a text, taking a moment to think.

"I just got called into work to report on that robbery which Eddie and Barry went off to, but we only have the one car," Iris grimaces, "you could come with me, but you would have to wait in the car..."

Iris looks like she wants to pull her hair out. She doesn't always seem to understand that she can't please everyone.

"It's okay Iris, calm down," I say, "my apartment isn't far, I'll just walk."

Iris beams at me, "are you sure?"

"Positive. I could use the walk anyway, clear my head."

Iris gives me a hug and makes me promise to text her when I get to my place so that she knows I'm safe. She climbs into her car and drives off in the direction opposite to my apartment.

Xx

I had lied to Iris when I said that my apartment wasn't far.

Sure, she should have known that, because she drove me from my apartment to the restaurant herself. Thankfully for the sake of my horrible lie, she had been so deep in thought that she didn't pick up on it.

I have been walking for at least half an hour now, but I can't be sure since I still don't have a watch. The concrete pavement seems to go on forever, my feet are already aching in my boots.

I'm sick of the golden afternoon sun glaring down on my back, following me like a bad smell.

I don't really know where I am, but I know I'm going the right way. See that sign? We passed that on our way to the restaurant! I enthusiastically walk towards it, hoping that I can recognise something else once I get there.

Once I'm standing underneath the sign, enjoying the rare shade that it casts over me, I spot it. A small, pale white sign sticks out a few blocks away. That sign reads 'Clara Drive'. I know where I am! Quickening my pace, I rapidly approach the sign when a small shadow passes over my head

Flap, flap, flap, _tap_!

A black crow lands atop of the sign, its glossy feathers shining devilishly in the afternoon sunlight.

Squawk!

I can feel my limbs shaking, I am barely fighting the urge to run like hell. I lift my head slowly to meet the crow's gaze. It's eyes are white, completely glossed over like two shiney pearls.

Jon Winston is back, and by the looks of it, he's back for _me_.

Xx

 **Dun dun DUUUN! I was going to write more, but I really wanted to do a cliffhanger. It gives me motivation to keep writing, ya know? Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!**

 **Much love, as always,**

 **Yaysies536**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hi! I've run out of different ways to say hello, please help. This chapter should be fun, Hazel meets the Flash and stuff finally gets exciting. Enjoy reading!**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

 _Previously;_

 _Flap flap flap, tap!_

 _A black crow lands atop of the sign, its glossy feathers shining devilishly in the afternoon sunlight._

 _Squawk!_

 _I can feel my limbs shaking, I am barely fighting the urge to run like hell. I lift my head slowly to meet the crow's gaze. It's eyes are white, completely glossed over like two shiney pearls._

 _Jon Winston is back, and by the looks of it, he's back for me._

Chapter 9

Running.

That's all I allow myself to think about as I listen to the steady beat of my boots hitting the ground. I need to get home, fast.

Looking around frantically as I run, I ignore the 'what a whacko' stares I get from people as I push past them through the crowded streets.

I nervously run over my options in my head. I could call the police, but that would probably mean stopping and getting my eyes pecked out by Jon's little flying devils, or I could keep running and hope I can get back to my apartment before the birds round me up and drive me straight into Winston's creepy, open arms.

I shove away all thoughts of violently confronting the man, as if _I_ could avenge Derek's death. He didn't even deserve to be avenged. Ugh! I can't be thinking about this right now, I need to get away.

Another possessed crow flies at me from straight ahead, blocking the path I would have taken to home. I skid to an abrupt stop and change directions, then sprint for my only other option. A dark alleyway between two towering buildings looms ahead, and I can't help but think that running through it is a bad idea.

Unfortunately, it's my only other way home. The golden sunlight vanishes from my back as I step into the shadows, running through the narrow space between buildings.

The damp smell infests my nostrils, the suddenly cold air pricks my skin. My footsteps echo as I run, I can hear the steady rhythm of wings flapping behind me.

The silence of the eerie alleyway puts me on edge, I can't help but feel like I am running into a trap.

A _trap_.

The birds are rounding me up like a sheepdog would a sheep, I realise, and I have a feeling I would meet the Shepard quite soon.

 _Tap tap._

I dig my feet into the damp gravel, abruptly stopping. The birds had stopped chasing me and are perched high above on the steel pipes lining the sides of the buildings.

I gasp for air as my heart races, I'm not sure if my exhaustion is from fear or too much running.

 _Crunch, crunch, crunch._

Jon Winston steps out from the shadows, beginning a slow clap.

"I told you I would get you," he says in a low raspy voice, "metahuman, or not."

Metahuman? I don't have the time to try to understand him.

"What do you want from me?" I ask, retaining my voice from wavering.

He chuckles, a smirk creeping its way up the side of his stone cold face, "I want the satisfaction of hearing you scream, before I crack your spine and watch you bleed out, right here, before my eyes."

I catch my breath, searching for an escape with my eyes. My thoughts are clouded by fear, anger and hatred, my vision starts to blur before my sight goes completely dark.

Panic drives away any thought that enters my head, I thrash about against the strong, rough hands holding me tight up against the cold concrete wall.

As I manage to calm myself down, despite the panic inducing situation I'm in. My vision returns, and I instantly wish it hadn't.

I watch as the sickening crack of shifting bones slices through the air, the man howls in pain as two large, feathered wings erupt from the man's back.

His fingers lengthen, the nails on his fingertips merging with his skin to create talons. Each finger looks like a metal, razor sharp blade.

He smiles victoriously as he raises his weaponised fingers, tracing my skin. I thrash against his grip as I anticipate the pain he is about to inflict.

He cuts me slowly, a smile etched on his face as he watches me wither and scream in pain. It takes several cuts straight down my legs before I begin to finally regain control of my thoughts.

This man is a _murderer_ , he has hurt more people than just me, or Derek, yet this man is still standing in front of me, chipping away at my skin. _Why is he still standing?!_

My rage roars in my ears, a wave of exhaustion washes over me. The pipes above me rattle with building pressure. I crumple to my knees as he lets me go, slowly inching away from the pipes in fear. I struggle to hold my concentration and keep my eyes open.

A loud boom echoes through the alleyway as the pipes lining the buildings explode.

From the steel pipes water gushes out like a stream, but instead of falling to the ground and flooding the alley, the water levitates, gathering in a quickly expanding sphere overhead.

The shadow of the water is cast onto Jon, who is breathing heavily and backing away in fear, his eyes flitting between me and the threatening liquid above him.

I concentrate on the man, it takes all of the strength I have left to keep myself from falling unconscious on the ground.

I can't take it anymore and my legs buckle beneath me, the water crashes down on Jon and he is crushed, falling backwards to the ground with a loud crack.

He lays on the ground, wings sprawled out at broken angles. After laying and groaning for a few seemingly long seconds, he grimaces as he pulls himself from the ground, spazzing wildly as his wings shift back into his body.

My wounds have sapped my strength, I can't fight back. I open my mouth drawing in a deep breath before it is too late, and I scream.

I watch as the fist flies towards my face is slow motion, the impact sending a wave of shock and pain through my body.

The exhaustion takes over, my stomach growls hungrily. Despite my best efforts, I crumple to the ground and fall unconscious.

Xx

 **Barry's POV**

I was running back to S.T.A.R. Labs when I heard it. A loud, terrified feminine scream.

"Hey Cisco," I attempt to gain his assistance, "Cisco, you there?"

There is no answer, I guess I'm on my own. I race in the direction of the shriek but the sound ends all too soon. Worried that I'm too late, I run all through the area, but I find nothing.

I'm about to give up when I see out of place movement from the corner of my eye. Crows are gathering on the edge of the rooftops of two apartment buildings, and between the two roofs lined with crows is a long dark alleyway.

It's always a dark alleyway, why did I _not_ search the most common place for assault in movie history? Well, it's always either an alleyway or an abandoned warehouse...

Remembering my goal, I race through the alleyway, the electricity coursing through my body gives off a faint light in an otherwise completely dark narrow space.

I skid to a stop, the gravel beneath my feet burning from the friction. Before me stands a man, his fingers transformed into what resembles giant, mutated bird talons. He has a large gash on the back of his head, blood is gushing out. It's a miracle that he isn't dead, or passed out. Then I see the girl. Her legs are cut to a point where she can't stand, her skin is pale and clammy from exhaustion. I recognise her face, but I can't quite remember how I know her.

Wait a minute, is that _Hazel_?

A clenched fist whacks me in the side of my head, catching me off guard. I fall on my back, landing in an extremely out of place puddle. Where did all of this water come from?

I look up to see a few burst water pipes, they seemed to have automatically turned off, because of they hadn't they would be spewing water all over me. I look back down at the opposing threat who is preparing to swing another punch.

Holy- is that _Jon Winston_? That would explain the hoarding crows... oh no. The _crows_.

Suddenly a flurry of feathers and sharp claws rain down on me, scratching and tearing holes through my suit and skin.

Damn, Cisco is going to kill me.

Using my speed, I stand up and shove each bird to the ground, one by one.

Is this animal cruelty?

By the time I'm done with the birds, the man is flying away. His wings look damaged and cut open, but they have scabbed and seem to be healed just enough for the winged murder to escape. I run to the rooftop of the building, but I'm too late. Jon Winston is flying away, rapidly gaining speed. I watch for a moment in awe, memorising the direction which he is flying in. Hopefully, I can track him down with Cisco's help, and finally catch this violent meta.

I am brought out of my thoughts by a loud, pained moan.

 _Hazel_.

I race back down into the alleyway, crouching beside her. Her eyes are barely open, and she looks absolutely terrible. The gashes on her legs are still bleeding, she is surrounded by a small pool of her own blood. She is too beaten up to walk, heck, she is struggling to keep her eyes cracked open.

Suddenly, the girl lashes out. I jump back slightly, shocked. Her eyes are open wide, but glazed over and she seems dazed. She throws herself away from me using her arms, her legs drag limply behind her.

"Don't hurt me!" her voice is barely a whisper, but the effort it takes for her to speak is evident as she gasps for air after each word.

"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you," I coax, "I'm one of the good guys."

She keeps struggling, "your friend, he killed Derek! He is a murder, a bad person, just like _you_."

I pull back. She is afraid. Of _me_. Remembering the way she had described her boyfriend's murder, I can't say I blame her. Jon Winston literally tore her boyfriend to shreds right before her eyes. I couldn't imagine what it would be like if Iris...

"Jon Winston isn't my friend. He is a criminal, he was affected by the particle accelerator," I explain, unable to read her expression, "he is my responsibility. That's why I've been trying to _stop_ him."

Her breathing calms down, "you've been stoping them? You really do save people?"

I smirk, "well, I just saved you."

Hazel chuckles before groaning in pain. I glance down at her legs. This girl had been attacked twice by the same man. That can't be a coincidence.

"He's targeting you," I think aloud, moving closer to Hazel.

Hazel subconsciously inches away from me, dragging herself along the ground using her arms. I can already tell it will take a lot to gain her trust, she is still terrified, despite the act of bravery she is putting on.

"Yeah, seems like it," she groans, "every time I get away from him, he just comes back for more."

Cisco's meta human app doesn't work unless the police or some emergency service is contacted about the event. How could I know when Winston comes for Hazel next time if even the CCPD don't know? What if-

" _BARRY_!" Cisco's voice suddenly murders my eardrum.

Wincing, I reach out to my ear piece, standing up and moving away from Hazel, "yeah?"

" _You said you'd be back in 5. It's been 15! What are you doing_?"

"I ran into a meta on my way back," I say, "he may or may not have torn the suit."

" _Sorry, he WHAT now?_ " Cisco yells, " _dude! Why didn't you tell me that you found a meta? I could have helped_!"

I groan, is this seriously happening right now? Starting to feel the wounds on my chest stinging, I decide it's time to flee the scene.

"Dude, I _tried_ ," I say, my voice sounds like I'm in pain even to me.

" _Are you okay, you sound like you're_ _dying_ ," Cisco comments thoughtfully.

"I got scratched up a bit," I say, knowing that my wounds would probably be healed by the time I get back to the lab, "I'll tell you what happened when I get back."

There is momentary silence before Cisco says, " _soooo, are you coming or what? Should I be preparing the paper weights right now?_ "

"A girl was injured, she can't walk," I inform Cisco, "what should I do?"

" _Take her to the hospital, duh! Why are you asking me this? You do this all the time_."

"Yeah, but she's being targeted by this meta. Can I just take her back to the lab so that she can explain? She needs our help."

Cisco is thoughtfully silent for a moment, " _Uhh, sure. Just don't blame me when Dr. Wells gets pissed at you_."

"Thanks Cisco, what would I ever do without you?" I say sarcastically before turning back to Hazel.

I reach down to pick her up, but she grabs me by the wrist before I get too far and glares at me.

"Don't you dare-" she warns.

I simply grin at her.

 _Whoosh_.

Xx

 **Hazel's POV**

 _Ohmygosh_ , I'm going to die.

Well, I'm half dead already, but that's not the point. I'm going to DIE!

I cling onto the super-speeding stranger like my life depends on it. The wind rushes through my hair, the air rushes over my face. We are moving at a speed so fast it's like I can feel each individual air particle slamming into me. The sensation is weird as _hell_. I don't trust this superhuman at all, I half expect him to drop me at this high speed and let the concrete grate my skin like Swiss cheese. Suddenly, the weird sensation stops, and I am lying on a bed, wrapping my arms around nothing at all.

Disorientated, I sit up, wincing as I do so. Why does my entire body hurt? I pull up my shirt slightly and gape at what I see. My entire torso is covered in one large, purple bruise, I look down at my legs and they are both gashed deeply. The pain is unimaginable, but I have partially convinced my brain that my legs are numb by repeating ' _my legs are fine_ ' over and over again in my head. It was a trick I learnt to deal with pain, I picked it up in middle school when I used to get bullied a lot. The trick isn't really working this time, since the excruciating pain is _almost_ overwhelming.

Almost, being the key word.

I look around the unfamiliar room, my arms and legs still trembling with fear. So this is the Streak's dungeon? Where he keeps prisoners, stolen items and tortures people?

It looks a lot more like a lab or a hospital to me.

I finally lay eyes on the Streak. He is leaning against a glass wall, tapping his foot like he is waiting for something. Or _someone_.

Out of nowhere, two people enter the room, looking at me curiously. They keep glancing behind them, as if they are expecting someone to appear out of the shadows and yell at them.

They are only a few meters away when I pass out, proud of myself for tolerating the pain for this long.

The last thought running through my head is; _I am going to die._

Xx

I wake up in my bedroom, thinking that everything is right in the world.

I turn my head to look out my window, its dark out. I turn my head back the other way to face my mirror, door and grey couch.

That's when I see _him_. The masked hero is sitting lazily on my couch with Oshi laying across his lap. What does that psychopath think he's doing with my _dog_? I sit up using my arms, my entire body feels like it's on fire.

" _Whatdidyoudotomydog_?" I slur.

My throat feels like it's made of sandpaper, I realise after saying one sentence. The stranger snaps his head up, his face blurring as if it's vibrating. Why is he in my house? How does he know where I live? How am I still alive?

I have so many questions, but not enough time to ask them.

"You seriously think I would hurt a _puppy_?" he asks accusingly, his voice sounds like it's been disguised, or modified unnaturally, "what kind of psycho do you think I am?"

I cough to hide my surprise. So this superhuman makes _jokes_ now?

"You're one of _them_ , I don't know what to think of you," I answer, still sounding like a dying cat.

And yes, I know what a dying cat sounds like. Hit me.

He doesn't move from his place on my grey, wooly couch, "okay then, for the record, not _all_ meta humans are bad. So, yeah, I haven't met any metas who haven't been dead set on wanting to kill me, but you never know."

I let out a breath I didn't know that I had been holding. Something about this guy makes me want to trust him, but I refuse to let my guard down. Also, what the hell is a _meta_?

"What is a meta?" I splutter.

"A person with uh, let's call them _superpowers_. Jon Winston, the guy who is after you, he is one of them."

"You're one of them too," I say pointedly.

"That's not the point," he says, shifting on my couch.

I am about to throw a marathon of questions at him, but he speaks first.

"If your wondering why I'm here, so am I. Cisc- uh, an _associate_ of mine had an idea, which he wants me to discuss with you. So if you don't mind, stop being judgey and listen up."

I cough, "alright, but can you please stop stroking my dog, it's creepy and unnatural."

He chuckles, lifting Oshi up like she weighs nothing and setting her down on the ground.

"I want us to work together to catch this guy," he states.

I stare at him suspiciously. Does he really want to help? Or am I being stupid? I don't want to be that one dumbass girl at the beginning of a horror movie who dies for no apparent reason.

"Uh huh," I say, showing my suspicion through my voice.

"Ugh, what is it going to take to get you to trust me?" he asks defeatedly.

I continue to stare at him like he has three heads, "a reason."

He sighs, "I really do want to help, you have to believe me. This guy, Jon Winston for example, has hurt countless people with his powers. I can't help but feel like it's my fault. I have these powers, I need to use them to protect this city against things beyond the CCPD. Meta humans for example," he explains, beginning to ramble, "my, uh, associates and I, have been working to protect Central City. So please, just let me help _you_."

I sigh in defeat. That was a pretty convincing speech, and considering how little I know about these meta humans, it makes sense that at least a few of them could be genuinely nice people. Even if my first instinct is, ' _get_ _the_ _hell_ _away_ _from_ _these_ _weirdos_ '.

"You know, it's nothing personal that I don't trust you. This Winston guy has been coming at me for weeks. He shredded my boyfriend to pieces-" my heart skips a beat as the memory replays through my head as if it happened yesterday, "right before my eyes. After that, I guess I just associated every 'meta human' with that bad experience. I'm sorry."

He nods his head in acceptance, "I understand. I'm sorry for your loss."

We share a brief moment of silence before he continues talking, "now back to Cisc- uh, my associate's idea."

He tosses a black phone at me, and it lands in my lap with a quiet 'thud.'

"Use this to ring us if you ever need help or find out any information about Winston," he offers, suddenly deadly serious, "I can keep you safe, if we work together."

"Okay," I say simply, plopping my head back down on my pillow.

I like this guy, I decide. He seems trustworthy, and if putting my trust in him comes back to bite me in the butt, well then at least I _tried_ to hate him. I can't help but feel like I am betraying Derek and all of the people who have been hurt by metas by putting my faith in him. Then again, Derek betrayed me by cheating on me, so I guess we are even.

"Okay?" he asks, sounding surprised that I didn't argue.

"Yep. I don't have any other options. Or ideas, for that matter," I say, closing my eyes, planning to fall back asleep.

"You trust me?" he questions untrustingly, "you're not just saying that to make me leave you alone?"

My eyes snap open and I glare at him, "I trust you more than I did at the start of the day. So don't push your luck. And yeah, I am trying to get rid of you so that I can sleep. Surely there is some other damsel in distress for you to toy around with."

He snorts, "toy around? I'm dead serious. Until next time."

I am about to throw another snarky comeback, but he is gone. Oshi is staring wide eyed at the closed door, just as confused as I am.

I want to call Iris, but I can't. Why did I ever promise to keep this stuff from her to Joe? Iris is writing a blog about this Streak guy anyway! What difference would telling her about this crazy experience make? Sighing, I snuggle into my cushions, replaying my long, confusing day over in my head. One thought haunts me as I fall into a deep, exhausted, painful sleep.

 _What the hell just happened?_

Xx

 **And there is the 9th chapter. If there are any mistakes, don't worry, I will edit it tomorrow. I wrote this all at midnight tonight, sooo... yeah. Thanks for reading and enjoy your day! Or night...**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	11. Chapter 10

**Heyo! This this the tenth chapter, and I still feel like it's the first. Just so that you people know, I have been writing this story in Notes on my IPad, and it is super annoying. I'm much better at writing on computers, sooo... spelling mistakes are guaranteed. Enjoy reading.**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Chapter 10

(Between episodes 4 and 5)

Bandages.

My legs are wrapped in bandages so thick, that the lower half of my body looks like a snowman. What did the Streak's friends do to me?

I am lying on my bed, contemplating whether it's even worth trying to get up. My gaze travels to the grey couch, memories from my strange encounter with the Streak last night linger.

Yesterday morning, I had woken up terrified of and despising so called meta humans. This morning, I've woken up seeking help from one. What even is my life right now?

I manage to pull myself into a sitting position, and I realise that I can't feel my legs. Maybe they gave me some numbing injections?

I slowly put my marshmallow feet on the ground. No pain. Shifting my weight off of the bed and onto my legs, I attempt to stand.

Pain tears through my legs and I fall backwards onto my mattress with a loud 'omph.' How am I supposed to walk?

My phone starts to vibrate in its place on my nightstand beside my bed. I reach for it and read the name on the screen.

Joshua.

Oh shoot. I look at the time. It's 9:00am on a Tuesday, and I am still in bed. Worse yet, I'm unable to walk. I have work! I accept the call, preparing myself for a long lecture about priorities.

"Hey, Josh," I say casually, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

" _Where are you_?" Josh demands.

"Sorry, bud," I say, shifting on the mattress, "I was in an, uh, car accident last night. I can't walk."

" _And I'm hearing this now_?" He snaps.

Joshua is usually kind to me, for example, the huge fuss he made over me when I woke up from the coma. I must of caught him on an off day, 'cause this dude clearly doesn't give a crap.

"Sorry, I just woke up. And I forgot what day it was..." I trail off.

He sighs, " _it's okay, I guess. A car accident is a pretty fair excuse. But if I find out that this car accident never actually happened, you will be working alone for the next fortnight. That is all, thank you and goodbye."_

My phone beeps signalling the fact that the merciless dickhead hung up on me.

I place my phone back on the nightstand, beside the phone that the Streak had thrown at me last night.

I attempt to stand again and succeed, managing to block out the pain. Wincing with each small step, I hobble into the bathroom. Tilly doesn't seem to be home, seeing as the entire apartment is silent. I wonder what se could be up to?

Sitting on the edge of the tub, I carefully unravel the bandages covering my legs. The last layer of the bandages is tinted red from rubbing against the scabs on my legs. Some parts of the bandage are stuck to my skin by disgusting clear liquid and weird, yellow, oily pus. _Disgusting_.

Getting annoyed at my inability to peel of the bandages, I decide to do the next best thing. I rip them off.

Hissing in pain and mentally slapping myself, I watch as my now reopened wounds begin to bleed, dark liquid dripping down my legs.

I try to stand again, but my wounded skin bundles together painfully in some areas, whilst stretching out and re-opening wounds in other areas. I decide to crawl into the shower, using my arms to propel myself forward.

I'm so pathetic.

Reaching up to turn on the shower from my sitting position, I relax as the soothing warm water pours over me. I close my eyes as the water makes its way to me legs, stinging as it fills the wounds.

I'm not a doctor, I don't even know if I should be doing this. Another thing that I'm not; is using that phone to call the Streak for advice on washing myself. Ugh, why am I so helpless?

I open my eyes as I feel a strange sensation like moving, rapidly regenerating ripped skin. I watch in disbelief as my wounds repair themselves at impossible speed, responding to the water as it washes over my skin inch by inch.

I blink a few times, expecting my wounds to reappear. How is this happening?

I look up at the shower head above me. What, am I washing in the fountain of youth?

I don't understand, I have had cuts before and showered in this very same shower. Those cuts didn't heal, so why now?

Standing up painlessly, I wrap myself in a towel and step out of the shower. I stop outside the shower in awe. I can walk now?

Suddenly, pain shoots through my legs and the strength I had felt was no longer existent. I fall to the ground, hitting my head on the bath tub on the way down.

Laying on the cold tiles, I bite back a scream of agony and I touch the back of my head where it had collided with the bathtub edge. It feels damp, but that is given as I just had a shower. I pull my hand back in front of me to see if there is any blood.

No blood.

Well, that's the first good thing that's happened to me today. I look down at my legs and shout out in shock. The gashes from earlier have returned, but seem much more shallow and less life threatening. Still, I am bleeding out on the bathroom floor.

And it hurts. A _lot_.

Xx

I had managed to stop the bleeding from my wounds and bandage my legs less excessively with fresh material.

After fetching Tilly's old wheelchair from that one time when she fell down the stairs and sprained both ankles, I wheel myself into the kitchen.

I glance at the clock above the door. 11:30am.

According to the clock, it took me two and a half hours to bandage myself and crawl around the apartment trying to find Tilly's wheelchair. Wow, I'm more pathetic than I thought.

Bringing myself to a stop in front of the couch, I pull myself off the wheel chair and onto the floor, before pulling myself off the floor onto the black leather couch.

If only I had coffee...

 _Knock knock knock!_

Ugh! What do I do? I eye the wheelchair menacingly. I really can't be bothered to go through all the trouble to get back on it. Like the sensible human being that I am, I slide towards the door like a snail and unlock it.

The door slams wide open, hitting me in the face as it swings.

" _Iris_?" I gasp.

"Hazel?" her facial expression shows nothing but concern, "what is _wrong_ with you?"

I look down at my marshmallow legs. How can I explain this without having Iris involve the police?

"I- uh, fell down the stairs."

"What stairs?" Iris raises an eyebrow, stepping through the door and closing it behind her.

"You know, the uh, stairy stairs," I say, scrambling for an answer, "the stairs to the roof, you know, forth door down the hallway..."

Iris shakes her head and helps me inch my way back to the couch, "only you could do this much damage in your own apartment. Those stairs aren't even that steep!" she says as she checks out my bandaged legs.

I chuckle and settle into the couch. I don't think I'll be able to get rid of Iris anytime soon.

All afternoon, Iris nannies me. She makes me a cucumber sandwich for lunch, brings me water when I ask for it, and keeps me company while I feel alone.

Iris's wild conversation topics which varied from Joe finding out about Iris and Eddie to game night at Jitters, which she had apparently tried to invite me to but I didn't answer her call. With my luck, we eventually end up on the topic of the Streak saving a bunch of people from a wrecking train.

"He is incredible, so inspiring. I mean, he could use his gifts to do anything he wants, but instead of putting himself first, he chooses to devote every second of his day to make our city a safe place. Unbelievable, isn't it?" Iris gushes.

Yesterday, I would have gone all 'crazy anti-meta protective friend' on her. Today, I'm agreeing with her. Its insane how much things can change, all it takes is a little empathy and a new perspective.

After a long conversation about the heroics of the red blur, Iris and I sit in a comfortable silence. I look out the kitchen window, the sun is beginning to set. Iris and I have been talking for hours.

"Hey, Hazel?" Iris asks out of the blue.

"Uh huh?" I say, turning my head to face her.

"Do you wanna go see a movie with Barry and I sometime?"

Slightly confused and out of my comfort zone, I hesitantly agree, "sure. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know... I think Barry likes you," she informs me.

I raise an eyebrow at her. Her eyes open wide as she realises what she had just implied.

"Not like that! No, no that's not what I meant. You just remind me of him a lot, and I don't know many people like you two. I think if you two opened up to each other a bit you could have a really nice friendship."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," I say, she opens her mouth to speak but I silence her with my hand, "Barry is a nice guy. I'll come, as long as there is no Eddie."

Iris's face falls, "I _was_ planning on inviting Eddie..."

I feel instantly guilty, "ugh! Fine, you can invite Eddie. But for the love of god, please _don't_ make it awkward. Last time, you were talking to Eddie the whole time despite your best efforts."

Iris beams at me, "this is going to be great! When will you be able to walk again?"

Huh? Oh right, I can't walk. I hadn't asked the Streak how bad my injuries were, and I have no clue what to think of them myself, since I'm not as much of a doctor as I like to think I am.

"I'll let you know as soon as I start feeling better," I promise.

"Okay!" Iris jumps to her feet, "I should be going, but I'll see you soon, Hazel."

"Alright then," I say, "I would walk you out the door, but..."

"That's fine," she laughs as she approaches the door, "don't forget to read my blog!"

"I won't," I say with half hearted excitement, "tootles!"

"Bye!" Iris says as the door clicks closed.

Once again, I'm alone.

 _Flap_.

Or not. What is that?

 _Flap_.

I turn my head around to face the direction that the sound is coming from.

 _Flap_.

I strain my eyes as I peer out the window, my vision is practically blinded by the setting sun glaring straight into my eyes.

 _Flap_.

A small shadow comes into view.

 _Tap_.

Oh no, is that-?

A crow sits on my windowsill, looking majestic as it perches in front of the stunning background of the setting sun. The orange and pink glow of the sky is caught in it's milky, unnaturally white eyes. An out of place rectangular object is clamped in its beak.

It squawks loudly before sliding the rectangular object through the small gap beneath the frame of the window. It head cocks to the side as it creepily watches me for a few moments.

It's milky eyes return to their only slightly less creepy, natural, black, beady state. The bird looks around with confusion before flying off into the distance.

Sliding of off the couch and into the wheelchair, I roll towards the window.

A small white envelope pokes through the gap beneath the window frame. I tug on it slowly, being careful not to rip it as I lank it out of the gap.

My full name and address is written on the front of the envelope in elegant curly writing.

I don't need to open it to know that it's from Jon Winston, the man who somehow continues to evade justice and cause devastation.

I rip the envelope open, inside is a small charcoal grey card. Something is written on it in white pen. I pull it up to my face to read, ' _Meet me at 302, Temill St. at 6:00 tomorrow tonight, come alone or else your friend Tilly dies.'_

My heart skips a beat on the last word.

Tilly can't _die_! No, she is the last remaining piece of my old life, I can't let her go.

I'm about to break down crying at my uselessness and lack of the ability to use my legs, when I remember.

 _Legs_.

I place the envelope down on the kitchen bench and roll down the hallway and into my room.

I grab the black phone which I had received the previous night, unlocking the phone using the password written on a sticky note stuck to the back of it. I open the contacts app, and a lonely phone number floats at the top of the page.

I don't hesitate as I press the button and it rings once before picking up.

" _Hello_?"

Xx

 **This chapter took me way too long to write. I think I have writers block or something. I might not be updating as frequently as I did when I started writing, maybe every second day? I won't give up on this tho. I will push through! Anyway, thanks for reading and enjoy your day.**

 **Much love as always,**

 **Yaysies536.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Hi peoples, sorry for the late update. I kinda lost my motivation, but I spent the day listening to music and now I'm back with ideas! This chapter shall be fun, but it starts a little weirdly since I left it on a weird 'I can't be bothered to finish this' cliff hanger. Enjoy reading.**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Chapter 11

"JonisbackandheisgonnakillmeanTillyandIpleasehelpI'mdying."

The words just flew out of my mouth in a ball of confusion and desperation. At least that helped me release my stress.

" _Sorry, what?"_

I realise that I'm too terrified to say a full sentence without word-vomiting everywhere, I decide to simplify my confusion down to one word.

"Help."

The phone beeps and the call ends, even though I didn't press the hang up button.

That speedy asshole just hung up on me! I knew he couldn't be trusted. He is probably teaming up with Jon, but I trusted him anyway. Meta humans are _bad_ , and they all deserve to die.

I storm into the kitchen, planning to arm myself with a kitchen knife, roll at top speed to 302 Temill Street and stab those peasant meta humans until they are invited to a picnic with Satan.

Why do I want to do this? Because no one, absolutely no being on this planet is allowed to hurt my Tilly. So what, if she's not _my_ Tilly in this moment? Tilly is all I have left of what used to be my life.

A loud scrape echoes through my empty apartment as I draw the kitchen knife. I'm about to roll out the door, down the elevator and onto the street in a march of self-righteousness, when a gust of wind hits me in the face like a wooden door.

I spin around as fast as my wheelchair will allow and thrust my fist forward, attempting to stab whatever thing just entered my house.

"Hey!" a familiar modulated voice fills my ears, "what's with the knife?"

I launch myself towards him, my thoughts are completely clouded. He is bad!

 _Whoosh_.

The knife is gone from my hand, and my attempt to jump out of my wheelchair and onto him was a failure. I am laying on the ground, hissing in pain as my legs scream at my stupidity. I am useless, once again.

Useless.

The word echoes through my head as a stare blankly at the ceiling. I might as well stay here, because at 6:00 tomorrow night, my friend is going to die. And I can't do anything about it.

"Are you alright?" the red figure above me leans down beside me.

He's going to kill me!

"Don't touch me!" I scream as I flail my legs, which have already begun to bleed again.

The Streaks backs up, "what happened to you?"

I shake my head, refusing to spit out an answer. If I tell him, this all becomes real. If I tell him, Tilly will die. Or maybe, he can help me. No, he's bad!

My thoughts struggle against one another as I subconsciously back up against the wall. The war in my head blocks out the sting of my now reopened, _again_ , wounds.

Finally, my minor panic attack ends and my thoughts become clear. This man had done nothing wrong, he was here to help.

To help.

To help because I can't.

 _Useless_.

Not allowing my tears to overflow, I finally spit out an answer.

"He's going to kill Tilly."

Confusion passes over the Streak's blurry face, he hesitantly moves toward me, and I'm too helpless to do anything about it. Crouching down beside me, he puts his hand on my shoulder.

"We are going to save her. Together."

Pfft! That's the corniest thing I've ever heard. I would have doubled over laughing if not for the grave situation that I am in.

"How?" I ask, finally turning to look at his blurred face.

He smiles at me. How does he smile in a situation like this? Someone is going to _die_!

"With speed," he pauses, flinching as if someone had just screamed in his ear, "and Cisco."

Xx

The Streak had asked me what I knew about Jon's location, and I just pointed him in the direction of the letter. I couldn't tell him anything even if I tried.

I am still yet to find out what a ' _Cisco_ ' is, but he kept repeating it over and over again as he spoke into his earpiece, so it must be important.

He had lifted me back into my wheelchair, despite my protests. I could have easily gotten back in by myself. I'm not that useless. Am I?

"Go take a shower and calm down," he commands, "I'll be here when you come out."

I follow his command and wheel my way down to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I don't know whether I'm relieved or disturbed at his request. I'm relieved because I feel like I'm about to explode and a shower really is the best way to help me chill out, but I'm disturbed because this guy could probably come in and out of here without me knowing. God, he could probably even take a photo of- ugh! Thank god that the Streak isn't an _absolute_ creep.

After unwinding the bandages on my legs and crawling into the shower I turn on the water. I remember what had happened earlier when I had taken a shower...

The water begins pouring over my shoulders, slowly coasting my body in warmth and relaxation.

I close my eyes and feel the water, trying to relax and gain control of my racing thoughts. The water coats me like protective armour, washes over me, gives me strength and control. It cleanses me, it heals me... _it's mine to control._

Wait, what?

My eyes snap open and my wounds are gone. I reach out to poke my legs, wondering if they are real.

Something is off. More than just my magical legs... the water, I can't feel it anymore. I look up, is the shower head clogged?

I gasp aloud as I realise what is going on. The water is _floating_ , dancing in circles above my head. Shadows of the floating water draw patterns on the soaked shower floor.

What? No, this isn't right.

 _Stop_!

The water falls loudly to the ground with a splat and the shower begins to flow as usual. What the..?

Standing up on my two, unexplainably magical legs, I walk out of the shower and dress in my pyjamas. My shirt is grey, too big and the collar is slightly too long, showing more than I'd like it to. My pants are long, white and fluffy with pink, blue and purple hearts all over them. My hair is a soaked mess and my eyes have wonderful black bags under neath them.

Absolutely stunning.

I shuffle out of the bathroom, the sun has been set for hours now. I push the wheelchair back into the dusty cupboard in Tilly's wardrobe that it came out of.

 _Tilly_...

I snap out of my misery. There is no time for a pity party, we have less than a day now to make a plan, execute the plan and save Tilly.

I walk back out of her dark, empty room and shut the door. I shuffle down the hallway, my feet dragging along with me. I keep stumbling over the material of my too big pants.

I blindly cross through the kitchen, pass the door and plop myself down on my leather couch with a sigh. Come to think if it, where is Oshi?

My head snaps to my left where the Streak sits calmly, stroking Oshi's soft black fur just like he had the first time he visited my house.

And I still don't know how he found out where I live...

Getting lost in thought, I stare at a white wall on the opposite side of the room. Then, I feel his eyes on me.

After a few moments of slightly creepy staring, he asks, "no wheelchair?"

Oh. _Whoops_. How am I supposed to explain this?

I turn my head to meet his eyes, they are a strangely familiar green colour, seeming so bright they could cast light in the darkest room...

Ugh, please stop, Hazel. Just- _no_.

"I uhh..." I wrack my brain for a good reason, "I didn't really need the wheelchair, it was just for show. You know, uh, seeking attention, as all horrible people do..."

The Streak chuckles, but even through his blurry mask his face still somehow expresses concern.

"I know that's a lie," he says, "firstly, your not a horrible person. Secondly, we- I saw your legs after the uh, incident the other day. You shouldn't have been able to walk for at least a month. Lastly, when you tried to attack me earlier, I saw the blood through your bandages."

Well, at least I tried.

"Okay then. You want truth? Here you go. Water can _fly_ ," I say, his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline but I continue anyway, "my legs somehow miraculous healed _completely_ in the shower and now I can _walk_."

He says nothing, seemingly deep in thought.

"Am I Jesus or something?" I think a loud.

He shakes his head and laughs, "I think I'll need to introduce you to Cis- uh! My associates."

"Why?"

"I have a hunch," he says simply, shrugging as he continues to pat Oshi.

"Okay then?" I say, I doubt I get a choice in this whole meeting associates thing.

I mean, he has freakish super speed for crying out loud.

On the topic of associates...

"I need to make a call," I suddenly pipe out and stand up.

"Okay, just don't mention me."

"And if I do?" I tease as I pick up my cell phone.

"I'll have to kill you."

Oh shoot.

"You don't mean that, right?" I say as I scroll lazily through my contacts.

He doesn't answer and resumes stroking my dog like a creep.

I press on Iris's name, the phone rings once before she picks up.

"Hey Iris," I greet her.

I glance over to see recognition in the Streak's eyes. Does he know Iris? His head is cocked to the side as though he is listening in on our conversation. Eavesdrop much?

" _Hi Hazel, I'm just heading home after work. Do you need something_?"

"Nah, I'm just keeping a promise," I say before explaining, "I told you I would call you as soon as I can walk. I can walk."

I almost throw the phone across the room as Iris's high pitched ear-drum murdering shriek blasts out of the phone.

" _Yes! That means I can start planning our movie date_."

I cough at the word _date_.

" _Or not date. Catch up? Yeah, okay. I'll call you later to give you the details. See you!"_

She hangs up, her excitement still radiating out of the phone.

"Okay then," I sigh as I place the phone down on the kitchen bench.

The Streak watches me curiously as I sit down on the couch beside him. I grab for Oshi and pull her from the Streaks lap and place her down next to me.

"Gimme my dog back," I mutter as I take her.

Oshi, more than anything, helps me calm down. She helped me make it through my parent's arguments, she has helped me cope with Tilly and Derek.

She can help me get Tilly back.

I snuggle into Oshi and begin to fall asleep, almost forgetting about the masked stranger sitting just a meter away from me.

"I should get going. My associates and I will make a plan, I'll come see you sometime tomorrow when we know what we are doing and what we are up against."

I was barely listening to what he had said and answer with a muffled, "Kay."

"See you tomorrow," he says as he stands, "and I promise, we will save your friend."

 _Whoosh_.

Xx

 **So... this was a short chapter. And it wasn't very good... but I had to upload something so that people know I'm still alive. Thanks for reading, and I promise the next chapter should be longer and better.**

 **Much love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	13. Chapter 12

**Hi again. I almost gave up on the story, but I'm back. Yay for that! Here is another chapter, and this time, it's not a fill in chapter, I'm actually going to write about something slightly interesting (woah). Enjoy reading!**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 12

"Oshi!" I call, my voice echoing through my apartment, "where are you?"

I'm wearing my navy bike pants, a light blue sports singlet and my old grey sneakers, ready to hit the streets and run away from my problems.

Not literally, I mean, I'll probably end up in this depressing apartment in a few hours, but I plan on avoiding this mess until I can actually do something about it.

The Streak had run off last night, promising something about making a plan and saving Tilly. The problem with that was, I am not involved at all.

I don't even know that speedy kid's name, and he's gone out of his way to help me with my rapidly expanding problems... Mainly the one involving a certain creep with the ability to manipulate crows.

Heck, the Streak will probably end up risking his life for Tilly, and I'll still be sitting at home trying to falsely convince myself that this whole situation isn't happening.

I hate this feeling.

I wish I could help...

I want to be stronger.

Therefore, I am going for a run.

Sure, it probably won't help much, but it'll distract me enough to make me feel less like a complete and utter failure.

I reach for the door handle, Oshi's blue leash dangling over my shoulder.

Click.

The door opens and Oshi emerges from behind the kitchen bench. She bounds excitedly towards me, patiently waiting in front of the door.

Recently, I have been too busy to get back into my old routine of taking Oshi for a walk once a day, but today that hopefully changes.

Oshi seems hopeful too.

I clip on Oshi's lead and glare spitefully at the stairs. The one and only perk of being in that wheelchair was the ability to access the elevator without being fined.

Groaning loudly, I begin to waddle my way down the stairs, Oshi racing in front of me.

Once we make it to the bottom of the stairs, I already feel tired and ready to give up on life.

"And that's my workout for today..." I say to no one.

Oshi dances playfully at my feet, and I can't help but feel bad. I have only been taking her out once a week recently. She deserves this, my laziness shouldn't be impacting her as much as it has been.

Walking out of the apartment, we reach the streets, and after a few foreboding steps; I break into a jog.

After about 15 minutes of jogging without rest, Oshi is panting and I feel like I'm about to collapse and explode on the pavement. I take that as a sign that we should stop.

My jog slows into a walk, and I realise that I have no idea where I am.

This week has really been a week for getting lost in Central City.

I need to stop assuming that when I go out without my car I will make it home, because recently, I have been given reason to doubt that.

 _Flap_.

Surely not. I'm just hearing things.

 _Flap_.

Oshi's ears perk up, her eyes lock onto something moving above our heads.

 _Flap_.

I tuck my chin into my chest, refusing to look up and confirm my assumption. God please have mercy on my soul.

 _Tap_.

A few suspenseful moments pass, and nothing horribly catastrophic has occurred.

What?

I look up at the street light, straining my eyes to look at the crow from so high above. The bird's shadow is cast into the pavement behind me, the sun glaring down on it's black feathers.

Further straining my eyes, I search for a glimpse of it's eyes. Finally, I see them. They are beady and black, curiously peering down at me with its head cocked to the side.

A normal crow.

I shake my head as it spreads it's wings and flies away.

I probably will need that therapist after all...

Xx

I had planned on running to avoid my problems, and it worked for a while. However, eventually my thoughts caught up with me, and I find myself blaming myself even more than I had been before.

I had begun running again, Oshi trailing slightly behind me. A song of haunting words continue to chorus through my mind.

 _You're a coward._

 _You're unable._

 _You're a let down._

 _You're unstable._

No matter how many times I try to sing the most annoyingly catchy songs to replace that tune in my head, those discouraging words continue to flow.

I run faster.

 _You're a coward._

The air starts to come in uneven, rigid breaths.

 _You're unable._

I break into a sprint.

 _You're a let down._

My mind races a million miles per hour.

 _You're unstable._

I can feel tears pricking my eyes.

Suddenly, my hand holding Oshi's lead is pulled violent backwards. My entire body follows and I almost trip over my feet at the sudden tug from Oshi's end of the lead. I look back at Oshi.

She has stopped, her firm grip on the ground had held strong and blocked the flow of my running as the lead tied us together.

She looks up at me, her breathing almost as rigid as mine.

"What?" I ask her, knowing she won't reply.

Oshi continues to glare at me.

I look around me and up at the sky. I'm not far from my apartment now, the giant wrecks of STAR labs in the distance had helped me navigate my way through the streets to a familiar location.

I'm now standing on the pavement, a road to my left and a bunch of stacked up stores on my right. The sun above me had moved from the centre of the sky to a position signalling the afternoon.

A lot of time has passed...

I begin to walk again, my legs dragging me along on auto-pilot. My thoughts wonder back to the Streak.

I wonder if he has a plan yet...

He promised me he would see me sometime today before he shows down against Jon Winston.

What if he had come to my apartment just to find I wasn't there?

What if he needed me for something?

What if-

I shake my head, not allowing myself to become overwhelmed.

I need to focus on getting back home before it's too late.

Xx

 _Pain_.

Stairs are a _mistake_. They should never have been invented.

Why is the elevator only for _disabled_ people? Does that count as racism?

I walk down the short, three door hallway, stopping at the second to pull out my key.

When the door swings open and I step inside, the first thing that I notice is the dark.

The curtains are _closed_ , and I quite clearly remember leaving them _open_...

Why is it dark?

Bad things happen in the dark...

Ugh, what am I, _twelve_?

My will to be strong for once overpowers the small shred of logic in my mind screaming at me for being hard headed.

I stride through my apartment towards the windows, ignoring the fact that the curtains are swinging eerily.

I pull the curtains open and the sunlight pours in, lighting up my apartment.

I spin around, expecting my apartment to be it's empty, normal self.

But it's not...

"Uagh!" I jump back, hitting my head hard against the open window.

The Streak winces as he stands lazily in a relaxed position, leaning against my kitchen counter.

"Sorry," his familiar modulated voice echoes weirdly through my house.

"Ow," I rub my head, "my bad, I should have been expecting you. Although, I'm pretty sure you qualify as a creep now... you know, hanging out in my apartment... in the _dark_ ," I snark.

He pulls himself up to a standing position, and nods, "fair. I do have a good reason to be here though."

I step closer hesitantly, "you have a plan?"

He nods slowly, "I do. I just came to tell you not to worry. My associates and I have it covered."

My jaw drops.

He is going there to solve _my_ problems, and he isn't even going to let me _help_ him. Sure, the next person would find it heroic, but me; this person _right here_ , ain't having it.

"I'm going with you," I inform him.

He steps back, fumbling slightly, "no, you're not."

I ignore his protest and cross the apartment with fake confidence, grabbing my coat from the hanger by the door and look up at the clock.

"Would you look at the time? It's 5:30, we better get going," I say, mocking him slightly despite the evident nervousness in my voice.

Tilly could die tonight, I have no right to be joking around.

He walks from his place by the kitchen bench to lean on the leather couch and restates firmly, "you're not coming."

I pause, "how do you figure?"

"I can't let you get hurt."

I scoff, " _bud_ , please, this is my mess. I need the satisfaction of at least contributing to the solution. Besides, I'm sure you know what it's like to feel like a failure with all the... uh, _whooshing_ , that you do. I can't cope with that anymore..." emotion somehow seeps through my barriers into my voice, "not _again_."

He shakes his head and sighs, "I understand... but no. I _won't_ let you get hurt."

He sounds like he's reassuring _himself_ now. Why does he care about me anyway? I'm just another tool to get through to the bad guys... right?

I turn to face him and step closer, "and why is that?"

I take another step forward and a realisation hits me like a brick wall.

This is a _person_ I'm talking to.

A person... with _feelings_.

He had always stayed distant from me.

Well, there had been those times when he would touch my shoulder for comfort, or that time last night when I moved across the couch to take Oshi from him...

But he trusted me, he _trusted_ me to not look him in the eye, to not dig into his personal stuff. For him, personal included a name.

Still, I trusted him despite all the reasons I had not to. But _why_?

Most of the time he stayed distant, distant enough so that I couldn't read his emotions. He stayed far enough away so that I couldn't see him as a person...

A _person_... not just a mask.

I'm close enough now to see the hesitation on his face. For just a moment, I can almost see the thick helmet of emotion shielding his face.

What's that about?

 _Whoosh_.

My hair is flung backwards by a strong gust of wind.

Woah.

I spin around, feeling guilty. The fresh scent of ozone and burning electricity lingers in the air and he leans against the door.

He had trusted me this far not to get too close to him, I had just over stepped a line.

I had been at least a meter away...

I feel the need to apologise, but he starts talking first.

I'm surprised to see a bright smile stretched across his face when he speaks, I suppose I hadn't bothered him as much as I had thought.

"You do _know_ I'm fast... right?" he says smugly, avoiding my earlier question, "I could _run_ you to China right now and leave you there."

I raise my eyebrow, " _China_? Of all places..."

He shakes his head and laughs.

 _Laughs_?

He's done that around me before... so why am I only thinking this way now?

This guy really needs to stop acting like a human being...

"What I'm trying to say is I can force you to stay behind. So just..." he trails off, a troubled expression on his face, " _stay_."

 _Whoosh_.

Xx

 **I had planned to write more than this, but I'm going to immediately start writing the next chapter. Sooo... what do you think? Thanks for reading, enjoy your day.**

 **Much love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	14. Chapter 13

**Hello. Another chapter, another five hours of confusion, editing and self doubt. Let's go! Enjoy reading :)**

 **By the way, I've given up on trying to link my story with the show's timeline, just consider this story's timeline to be a different timeline from the show... because timelines are too confusing for my small peanut brain to handle.**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 13

He is going to get himself killed.

Wiped out, kicked to heaven, khwkababed, 100% _deaded_.

And it'll be my fault, just like every other bad thing that has happened recently.

Although Jon Winston only has the ability to control crows, grow wings and talons and the Streak has _super speed_ , I've seen what Jon can do to people.

I mean, I am a walking example of what Jon does to people, and I should never have let someone else get caught up in it.

Right now, I'm a confused, scared, self doubting mess.

It's more than the fact than two people are possibly going to die soon...

Where do I stand with the Streak?

Before I had seen him as a threat, then he had become an alliance; which I had made for the sake of my sanity and well being.

Now that I've seen the humanity in him, I'll never be able to un-see it. The Streak is a good person, but the amount of emotion he keeps bottled up is unhealthy. I don't even know the guy and I can see that.

This guy had saved me from certain death, helped me when I felt lost, comforted me when I cried...

Whether I like it or not, this man has become more than just an alliance...

Ugh, I hate being unsure of where I stand with someone. Because the next time I see him it'll be weird... and I don't wanna be the one to start up the awkward touchy feely conversation.

 _Next time..._

There won't be a next time if he is dead.

It's about time I pay him back, or at least help him out after all he's done for me.

But would going there really _help_ him? He had been quite determined to make sure that I stay here and not get involved...

Oh well.

I zip up my jacket, grab my phone and pace out the door.

Flying down the stairs, I speed through the foyer and out of the building.

Once I'm on the streets, I break into a jog. It's times like these when I really miss Ronda.

Temill Street is nearby and very familiar to me, seeing as Tilly used to live in this area back when we were in school.

After about 10 minutes of hurried jogging, I turn onto Temill Street.

302 Temill Street, 302, 302...

The numbers are written in small black characters on the gutter in front of the building which the number is referring to.

 _299, 300, 301..._

302!

The building is significantly shorter than the rest. It has a busted window and ripped white pieces of cloth hanging out the windows, swaying in the non-existent wind. The entire building made of bricks, but seems to be cracked and falling apart.

I turn on my phone and look at the time. 6:01pm.

I hope Jon Winston doesn't mind if I'm late...

Taking a few moments to prepare myself for whatever horrors await inside... I scan the building and conclude that it would be severely unsafe and incredibly unwise to enter the building while it is in this slowly collapsing condition.

Which is exactly what I'm doing...

I hesitate, standing skeptically at the front of the building. What if it's a death trap?

Maybe the letter was all a trick?

Then I hear him.

The sound tears through the silence like a razor-sharp knife.

I hear him _scream_.

The golden glow of lightning shines through the damaged windows like a beacon of hope. Or, for me, a real good motivation for me to get my ass in the building.

Suddenly, the Streak's light dims and another scream is muffled by a flock of crows, swarming into the building through the windows.

He needs help.

But if _he,_ a meta human, needs help, what am _I_ going to do?

Suddenly, all the crows disappear from my view, the glow dims, the screaming ends and the house seems dangerously dormant.

That can't be good.

I open the door quietly, or at least, try to. It moans loudly as if no one has opened it since the 18th century.

I step inside and shut the door, still trying my best to be stealthy and unnoticable. Turning to face the interior of the building, I look around.

The room is pitch black and completely empty, except for one flickering yellow light, glowing in the centre of what seems to be a large black void.

From what I can see, the floor is grey and concreted, the walls are just as brick-y and broken on the inside as they are the outside.

The ceiling is high in all places except for the square of lower roof where the light hangs.

I can see the outline of a stairwell from the corner of my eye, my best guess is that it leads to the roof.

I take another step, but this time, something beneath my foot clicks and my foot falls a few centimetres below ground level.

Talk about bad luck. Seriously? Of all places I could have put my foot...

Should I move? Is it a land mine?

I don't have time to think before- WHAM!

A blinding yellow light roars to life right above my head as a reaction to the thing I had stepped on. I duck to cover my eyes from the burning light.

"I warned you," a disgustingly familiar voice sing songs, "bring company, and your new _friend_ , as well as Tilly, both die."

" _Leave them alone,"_ I growl.

A sickening chuckle echoes through the room.

WHAM.

Another yellow light flickers to life, this one further away, on the other side of the square room.

Underneath the light is Tilly, cuffed to an ancient looking wooden chair, a white gag in stuffed her mouth. Her hair is matted and wet, her eyes have giant bags underneath them as if she hasn't slept for days.

Tears drip down her face and she breaths heavily, as if she is trying to form words, but can't.

Thankfully, she seems to be unharmed physically.

In this situation, it's the only thing I can be _thankful_ for.

I run towards Tilly, and stop behind her chair. I untie her hands and let her pull the disgusting cloth from her mouth.

"Thank you," she rasps, her voice sounds broken and tortured.

"Get back to the apartment, don't call the police unless I'm not back at the apartment by sunrise. Got it?"

She nods quickly, taking a step towards the door before pausing to wrap me in a strangely unforeign hug.

I'm too stunned to do anything but stand there.

"I'm sorry, for _everything_ ," she sobs into my ear before letting me go and running towards the door.

Once she reaches the door, she spins around and yells, "you know, _Jon_ , I thought you were my friend. Turns out, you were. 'Sa shame your just a shit person, you'll never be worthy of friendship."

With that, she flicks her hair and sprints out the door.

I silently applaud her in my mind. _Yeah the Tilly! You get him!_

After the sound of her footsteps fade, the feeling of foreboding and certain doom returns. My words to Tilly were, ' _if_ I'm not back by sunrise.'

I might die in here.

No, _we_ might die in here.

"All this is _your_ fault," Jon Winston's voice echoes, seeming as though it is coming from all directions, "I told you that you would never escape, yet you selfishly refused to give yourself up, and instead of you, Tilly was harmed. I told you not to bring company, yet somehow this _hero_ made it in here."

"Where is he?" I ask, but it's more demanding than a question should be.

WHAM.

The sound comes from behind me, and I spin around to see another light flickering to a start.

The Streak lays on the cold, concrete ground, injured and twisted beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

His arms are broken and bent unnaturally, his torso is covered in gashes from talons. His cowl covers the injuries to his face, but from what I can see, he has a very broken nose.

His legs are worst of all. They are broken and bent unnaturally just like his arms, however they are also torn and ripped up just like Derek's dead body had been. Blood pools in a red puddle around him.

I can't bring myself to form words, so I begin to run towards him.

"I-" he chokes on his own blood as he rolls slowly to face me, "t-told you not to-"

His words are cut off by a coughing fit, blood begins to drip from his mouth.

I'm just a meter away when, WHAM!

I pause immediately. Another light had turned on, the entire room seemed to be lit with faint light. I can now see a water drain in the ground just a few meters away, and the large concrete pillars holding the deteriorating building together.

What else could Jon have been hiding in the darkness?

Xx

 _Himself_ , apparently.

I turn around slowly to face the newest light, and surely enough, Jon Winston himself stands beneath.

A long, unnatural smile is stretched across his face unevenly, his eyes are completely glazed over and white.

His black wings are spread wide, though one seems to be extremely damaged. I guess speedy over here hadn't completely failed in his attempt to take Jon out.

My blood boils in anger when my eyes reach his fingers.

Fingers- pffft! They are freaking _TALONS_.

And they are dripping with _his_ blood.

I had been in too much pain to freak out over these creepy, long, swordlike fingers the first time I saw them... but now?

Jon's banana fingers are more terrifying than American Horror Story.

My hands ball into fists. But what am I going to do, _fight_ him?

Hah! The Streak had tried and failed... what do I think I'm _doing_?

If he kills me, maybe he will let the Streak go...

Why do I care about the Streak so much? He is a meta human, just like banana fingers over there, who _killed_ my boyfriend and kidnapped my friend.

I shake my head, now is not the time to question my own logic. If I want to get us both out of here alive, I need to trust myself.

I won't give Jon the satisfaction of ruining my life. If I let him take me, Derek's death would be unavenged, Tilly's 24 hours of suffering would be pointless and all of the Streaks hard work to keep me from dying would be for nothing.

I can't let them down.

I _won't_ let them down.

I am stronger than this.

I reach back, my fingers scavenging to find something I could use as a weapon. I don't find a weapon, but I do discover _something_.

I hear the rage roaring in my ears, I feel the strange pulling sensation radiating from my fingers, I feel the strength being sapped from my soul... but other than that, I have no idea what is happening.

I look up at Jon, an increasingly worried expression begins to take over his face.

What is happening?

Through the loud roaring in my ears, I can hear the faint rattle of the drain beside me.

My head feels heavy as I turn to look at the drain.

Water.

Water is flying, once again.

I can't bring myself to feel shocked, all I want is to beat this _Scavenger_ senseless.

The water flows steadily up and out of the drain, racing towards me like a small river. Once the water makes contact with my skin, it vanishes, as if it is being sucked into a vacuum.

Some of the water floats overhead, levitating like a large wave waiting to crash.

I take a step toward and the stream follows, the mass of water above my head still expanding.

Each splash of water that touches my skin makes me feel stronger, more whole. More capable...

More powerful.

My vision enhances, I feel more co-ordinated, I can _hear_ Winston's sky rocketing heart beat.

Jon Winston is now cornered, his back up against the wall as he leans away in fear. I'm a few meters away when I decide to let the wave of my emotions crash.

I move one hand forward causing the wave to roll forwards, gaining speed before I drop my hand, letting the water crash freely against Winston like a wall.

He falls to the ground, moaning in pain before using the wall to stand again. The grin from earlier has returned to his face.

"I thought I knew everything about you, though it seems I did not," he spits, "however, if that is all your power, you are useless against me."

 _Useless_.

I am _done_ feeling useless.

My emotions roar to life, I can feel my energy and power as it surges the palms of my hands. A faint blue glow begins to taint my skin in a small circle on each palm, I can feel the power increasing inside of me.

The glowing circles expand, and small orbs of water begin to surface through my skin.

I close my eyes, allowing whatever the heck was happening to continue. It made me stronger... it made me feel powerful.

 _The water coats me like protective armour, washes over me, gives me strength and control. It cleanses me, it heals me... it's mine to control._

The water belongs to me, I belong to the water.

I have the power to stop Jon Winston. I have the power to save the Streak.

My eyes snap open with my realisation, and I urge the power to keep on flowing.

The glowing orbs of water in my palms are the size of my fist now, but I want more.

Jon chooses now to make his move and he prepares himself to take a swing at me with his weapon like fingers.

 _Weapons_.

The orbs of power in my palms snap out into two sharp dagger-like objects, still the same glowing blue colour.

They are completely solid.

With new found speed, I dodge Jon's swing and come up underneath him, pressing a dagger to his throat.

 _Fists_.

One of my daggers collapses into liquid again, covering my clenched fist. It then solidifies like armour over my fist.

A punching glove?

I punch Jon in the side of the head with my padded fist, he falls to the ground with a loud thud. Thankfully, he seems to be only unconscious.

The power drains from me in a river of water, each drop appearing from absolutely nowhere and falling to the ground with a splash.

I feel light headed and dizzy as I turn around to face the Streak.

He is lying on his side, watching curiously as I stumble towards him. The gashes across his chest and on his legs seem to be mostly healed, the blood around him is dried. His obviously broken bones don't seem as broken as they were earlier.

"How are you not dead?" I ask in a strangely weak voice, "wait, no... how am _I_ not dead?"

The Streak seems unfazed by the weird ass messed up bull crap that just occurred.

I mean, what in firey hell? Who am I, _Percy_ _Jackson_ or some shit?

My complete and utter confusion is put on hold when I hear a pained chuckle echo through the eerie, abandoned room.

"I _knew_ it," he chokes out, his croaky voice barely concealed by his weird voice modulator.

He knew _WHAT_ now?

Xx

 **So yeah... that happened. Thanks for reading and please review, I'm open to suggestions for future chapters. I only have a few solid ideas left... and I need some help deciding on the next villain. Should I use one from the show or make up another one? Enjoy your day!**

 **Much love, as always,**

 **Yaysies536**


	15. Chapter 14

**Hey there peoples. I might stop updating as frequently now because school starts up again tomorrow... ughhh. I would much prefer writing this instead of an English assignment.. if only. I apologise in advance if I don't update as often, but I will do my best to keep it up. Enjoy reading.**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 14

( **Barry's POV** )

Luck.

It is rarely on my side, but this; this has been a very lucky day.

Firstly, _I'm_ not dead. So that's always fun.

Secondly, _she's_ not dead. Which wouldn't have been a problem if she had listened.

Thirdly, we caught him. Sure, I am recovering from bleeding out on the ground after failing miserably, and I would have without a doubt died if she _hadn't not_ listened...

To be fair, I saved her once or twice, so I guess now we're even.

Finally, my wounds have healed enough for me to run back to STAR Labs, even if it means excruciating pain. If I hadn't healed, poor Hazel would have beeen forced to discover my identity, that STAR Labs is a meta human _prison_ and that she _is_ a meta; all in one day.

That would be unfortunate for her... and Cisco would be mad.

He's going to be mad anyway because the suit might as well have been thrown in a blender. At least he has spares. Right?

"How are you not _dead_?" Hazel's voice sounds exhausted and incredibly confused.

I open my mouth to say something, but as I begin to vibrate my vocal chords an overwhelming pain tears through my throat and I manage to fight back a yelp of agony.

"Wait, no... how am _I_ not dead?" she continues to think aloud, confusion written across her face in giant bold letters.

I've come to really enjoy Hazel's company. Mostly, because she is hilariously confusing when she is confused.

Right now, she seems almost transparent, I can read each emotion that washes over her face like a book. After studying her for a few moments, I conclude that she is in complete denial and refusal to believe what she just did.

To be fair, a meta had murdered her boyfriend and tortured her ever since, so I guess discovering that she _is_ one would be shocking, but also revolutionary.

I try to hold back my laughter, but to my greatest displeasure and a small amount of agony, a pained chuckle escapes. My throat feels like sandpaper and the pain jolts through me with each sound I make.

"I knew it," I manage to choke out, my vocal chords not vibrating as fast as usual, but fast enough to not hurt too badly and conceal my identity.

Her pacing stops and her head snaps up to look me in the eye, "you knew _what_? Nothing happened! _Nothing_. At all."

Her denial is as concerning as it is amusing. Hopefully she can get past this, otherwise this will be the last I see of her... as the Streak anyway.

If she can't pull herself together, I'll just have to do my best to keep her away from this new world she has up woken up to. Both figuratively and literally.

I watch as she almost breaks down in tears in front of me, her eyes glazed over as she tries to convince herself that nothing unusual had happened.

I begin to pull myself up from the ground, grimacing as I put weight on my arms and legs.

I manage a squatting position, and for now, that's the best I'll get.

"It's alright, Hazel," I try to comfort her, the overwhelming urge to give her a hug has returned, "we got him. Tilly is safe."

She nods repeatedly as she tries to understand.

"We got him. _We_. I didn't do anything... I just watched," she gestures wildly with her hands as she speaks, " _you_ got him."

" _Dude, she's going insane,_ " Cisco narrates the obvious, " _what happened? The cameras went blank after the crows came in."_

"She's a meta," I murmur into the speaker.

Hazel should have been able to hear me, but it seems as if her thoughts are too loud.

" _No way! You were right about the water thing? This is amazing! Bring her in_ ," Cisco demands selfishly.

" _Don't do that_!" Caitlin's voice contradicts Cisco, " _can you not hear her? She's freaking out. If you bring her in she'll probably have a panic attack."_

Okay then. Two different opinions, one much more wise and unbiased than the other.

"What should I do?" I whisper.

" _Tell her she's a meta_ ," Cisco says.

"- _just don't let her freak out,_ " Caitlin adds generously.

Easier said than done.

"Hazel," I call out to her, trying to gain her attention although she is only standing a meter away.

Her head snaps to look at me once again, she looks as though she is on the verge of tears.

That is exactly the look that I wanted to avoid at all costs. I've never been good at dealing with tears, what do I do? How do I break this to her without causing a nuclear event?

"You're a meta," I blurt out.

" _Nicely done_ ," Cisco mocks.

Nothing happens for a few long moments. Is she about to explode?

I get lost in my worried thoughts, Cisco and Caitlin are unhelpfully silent.

Thump.

My head snaps up to look for the source of the sound.

I realise it was just Hazel. She is leaning, unwisely, against the cracked bricked wall, her eyes closed and her head back.

She lets out a sigh and laughs humourlessly, "you know what? That makes sense."

I let out a breath that I didn't realise I had been holding. That could have gone really badly.

"But wait, _no_. I can't be a meta! Winston is a meta; he is a _murder_. You are the _only_ good meta..." she starts to go insane again.

She really needs a hug...

"Telling _me_ I'm a _meta_ , is like telling a _Christian_ that they are actually _Satan_ ," her blue eyes flick open and her head snaps up to look at me with confusion, "am I Satan?"

I would have had a laughing fit if it weren't for the situation.

"No, you don't have to be."

She lets her head fall back again and she lets out another sigh.

The muscles in my legs are still screaming at me, but I manage to stand without doubling over in pain.

I take a few slow steps towards her, stretching my weak, newly mended legs.

"Hold on, if I have," she laughs weakly, "superpowers, how did I not notice until now?"

I shake my head, "I think you did notice, you just couldn't accept it," I express my opinion, "also, when I first got my speed, I didn't understand it. I'm just lucky I had people ready to help me accept the truth and move on."

She huffs and leans further back against the wall, "Pfft, move on. I'm not going nowhere. I need sleep," she pauses, "or coffee..."

Thank god she didn't say alcohol. The last thing I need is a alcoholic meta with the ability to control the ocean running around the streets.

Honestly though, I agree. Today has been an extremely long day and I need calories, then sleep.

"Do you have a car?" I ask as I make a sudden decision.

"Nah," she says, "the police stole it."

I raise my eyebrow in question, before remembering that it was kept after the case of Derek's murder for evidence. I make a mental sticky note to nag Joe to get it back for her.

"Okay," I say simply.

If I told her what I am planning to do, I'd probably get a tsunami to the face.

Instead, I use my speed to pick her up and run her home before she realises that I had moved.

She stumbles backwards a few steps as I put her down in her kitchen, "WOAH. You really need to stop doing that."

I chuckle, my vocal chords feeling warmed up and less like sandpaper.

"I'm going to bed," she deadpans, "thanks for saving me. And Tilly. _Tilly_! Crap, I better go talk to her. Oh yeah, _creepy crow Jon_ is still asleep back at 302. What are you going to do with him?"

I nod in acceptance of her gratitude, "don't worry, you won't see him anytime soon."

Her eyes go wide, "I'm not gonna ask, but whatever he gets; he deserves it."

"That he does," I agree and take a step towards the door, electricity sparking as I prepare to run.

A warm hand grabs my arm, pulling me back and stopping me. The gesture is normal... but for me, she's too close. I know she knows that.

 _Hazel_...

I turn my head to the side so that I can see her from the corner of my eye, but she cannot see my face.

"Will I see you again?" she asks, her eyes half lidded and weighed down by sleep.

I smile at her from my sideways stance, "more likely than not."

 _Whoosh_.

Xx

 **(Hazel's POV)**

I'm a meta.

I'm not sure how I feel about it, or how I _should_ feel about it. It's not like there is a book on ' _what to do if you have superpowers that you don't want_.'

I stumble tiredly down my apartment hallway, not bothering to turn on the lights.

I stop in front of Tilly's door, and hesitate before knocking.

What is going on with Tilly?

Last night, before she ran off, she gave me a hug and apologised for _everything_. Does this mean she will be turning over a new leaf?

Curiously, I swing the white painted door open.

Tilly is sitting on the edge of her bed facing the wall, just staring at it.

...Okay then?

I stand in the hallway for a few moments, contemplating what I should do.

Do I get her attention? Do I leave her be?

I make a quick decision and walk from my place in the doorway, around her bed and sit down next to her, the whole mattress sinking with the added weight.

Tilly doesn't look at me. She just keeps staring, like that wall has all the answers to life.

"Tilly?" I try to get her attention.

She turns to face me, her expression blank and her face seems unnaturally pale.

"I'm leaving," she says, her voice perfectly calm and controlled.

"What? Why?" I ask, "you're whole life is here Til'"

She stands abruptly and turns to face me, "no. It's not!"

Im confused.

"I told you I _quit_ my job. I got _fired_ because I couldn't concentrate on my work while I you were in the hospital battling for your _life_. I blamed myself... I started the drinking because I wanted to be strong without you. I thought I had been _strong_ by creating a new life, making new friends, getting a job... the truth is, I'm weak. I need to move away, I need to _change_. I need to be better."

But Tilly _can't_ go. She's my best friend!

Is she though?

Besides, what kind of a friend would I be if I made her stay and live in a place that reminds her of her mistakes and regrets?

Recently, everyone has been leaving me. What if it really is for the best?

"Okay," I say, nodding my head and keeping my upset from pouring into my voice.

"Okay?" Tilly asks, her defensive posture loosening, "you're okay with this?"

I nod, "if it's for the best."

Tears are already beginning to brim my eyes as old memories of our friendship resurface. I'm not ready to let this part of my life go...

"Thank you," Tilly says, giving me a quick hug before leaving her room and walking further down the hallway, probably into the bathroom.

I decide to go to cry myself to sleep before this day can get any worse.

Xx

 _Beep. Beep. BEEP._

My alarm screams bloody murder as it does every Thursday morning.

Ugh, _Thursday_. Disgusting, I have work.

Now I'm going to have to explain my miraculous recovery from the wheelchair to Josh, seeing as I had been a victim of a car accident when I spoke to him last, which was only two days ago.

To be fair to myself, I had been attacked by a meta who was dead set on my demise. I find that slightly more traumatic than a car crash.

Also, I had a near death experience last night. Surely that could get me a day off work.

But wait, there's more. I'm a _metahuman_. You know, the mythical unicorns of Central City.

Hah! _Unicorns_. I meant little devils with their beady little eyes set on ruining lives, because apparently no one with a _soul_ was given superpowers. Except for the Streak... who I doubt I will see again despite his promise last night.

I throw myself out of bed, more bad memories from yesterday returning.

Exhibit A: the conversation with Tilly last night.

I'm going to be living alone pretty soon, all I'll have left are Iris and her friends...

Iris. Iris who is _writing_ a blog about the _Streak,_ who I have promised to not talk about. _Ever._

Why is my life so complicated? It's not even _complicated_ , it's just annoying.

I'm so done with all this change, but apparently, change will never be done with me.

It takes about 30 minutes to get showered and dressed. I check on Tilly by peeking in her room, she's still asleep and buried in her blankets.

I need to stop being so clingy, it's not like she's going to just get up and leave. She needs to book transport, accommodation. Oh yeah, she also probably needs to decide where she is going and what she is doing as well.

I make my coffee in a rush this morning, I don't want to be late for work. It's kind of inevitable seeing as I still don't have my car...

I pour my coffee into a 'to go mug' and chuck the dirty stuff in the dishwasher, setting it on before running out the door with my coffee.

My phone begins to vibrate in my pocket.

I pull out my cell, a foreign number lighting up the screen. Who are you?

I nervously press accept, "Hazel Reed's phone."

" _Hi, Hazel. This is the CCPD. We still have your car from the Jon Winston case and our-"_ he sighs _, "forensic scientist has been going on about it all morning. Would you like it back_?"

Are they seriously asking _if_ I would like my 30,000 dollar vehicle back? Nah, keep it, I have _plenty_ of those knocking around!

"Yes please," I say politely, "where should I go to receive it?"

" _We have your address,_ " the man says, " _it will be delivered by lunch time._ "

"Okay, thanks!"

I want to hang up, but I hesitate. What if there is some kind of fine for hanging up on the police?

The officer ends the call and I shove my phone into my pocket, beginning the long journey to my shop, Central City Paints.

At least I have coffee.

Xx

 **Whoop whoop! I am spitting out these chapters like a machine! Yes, I just complimented myself, deal with it. Next chapter will probably be the night out with Eddie, Iris and Barry, so that'll be fun to write. I've kind of already written it... it was one of the first things I wrote, but I'll just have to edit it a bit. Thanks for reading!**

 **Much love,**

 **Yaysies536**


	16. Chapter 15

**I've been writing this chapter inch by inch, but finally... here's another chapter. I'll be introducing new bad guys (hahah, writing bad guys makes me feel like a two year old) soon-ish, but not yet. I have a few of my own ideas, and one or two from some reviews. Also, if I don't use your suggestions, please don't be offended, I just want what's best for the story and I just go with whatever feels most natural. Enjoy.**

 **Note: I am going to start linking the show with my story again because otherwise I'll have to rewrite the episodes into my chapters. I don't the time or patience to do that.**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 15

(Linked in with Episode 5 of season 1)

 _Bing_!

The bell above the door of my store rings for the fiftieth time today. People just keep pouring in, and I don't get a break.

It's a good thing that my business's popularity is returning, but a bad thing that work is most likely going to be more time consuming than it previously had been.

I'll have to start painting at home again if I don't have time to do so during working hours...

" _Josh_!" I call out, hoping he isn't busy.

"Hazel!" Josh's snappy voice comes from he other side of the room, "I'm _busy_."

Sure he is. He's probably sitting in my 'painting' room eating the Big Belly Burger he bought in his break.

I quickly dash to the door to greet our newest customer, my eyes are trained on the ground as I walk, trying to avoid tripping over the legs that stick out from the display stands.

I almost run into the unfortunate customer, but then I look up.

" _Eddie_?"

What the hell is he doing here? Iris had already brought him a painting, so if he is here to buy her one too it would just be weird. Who _else_ could he be buying for?

"Hi, Hazel," he greets, giving me a friendly wave, "Iris bribed me into stopping by and making sure your still on for tomorrow night? She says you missed her call."

Of course I _missed_ her call, I'm working. She knows that, but I guess she had a good reason to send her minion to check on me, because I've forgotten whatever regrettable promise I've made to her this time.

 _Tomorrow_ night?

A few moments pass as I wrack my brain for some clue as to what is happening tomorrow night.

Oh yeah. How could I forget? Another awkward, painful few hours of putting up with Iris and Eddie's conversation. At least Barry will be there...

 _Why_ did I agree to this again?

"Yeah, I'll be there," I say clearly, before muttering under my breath, " _unfortunately_."

The things I do to keep Iris happy...

"Okay, I'll be going then," he says, stepping back out the door and continuing on his way down the street.

...

Well that was weird.

I begin to retreat back to my painting room, hoping to at least get a start on a new painting, when I hear it. Again.

 _Ring_!

I spin my head to glare at the door with great annoyance. _BUGGER OFF!_

" _JOSH_!"

Xx

 _Coffee_.

I swear it's been the only thing on my mind since I woke up this morning.

Am I an addict? Pfft, of _course_ not.

It is 4:00 and work has finally closed, Jitters is calling me. I should probably be getting back to my apartment right now, but I have priorities.

Such as coffee.

I stumble along the crowded path, plying my way towards Jitters. One foot in front of another, I slowly make my way in the general direction of Jitters. Faceless people swarm passed me in giant mobs, and after pushing through a final wave of people I see a break in the crowd. Quickening my pace, I walk freely towards the glass door of Jitters, my eyes trained on the floor.

WHAM!

Pain pulses through my body and I fall to the ground, bouncing off the pavement as I sprawl out on my back. My wallet skids a few meters away.

What could I possibly have hit? It was a wide open path for heaven's sake!

I sit up slowly, fuming at whatever demon decided to place itself between me and my coffee sanctuary.

I realise that the man who had knocked me over was crouching over me, now that I've sat up his face is only a few _centimetres_ from mine. I can't see much else else than the colour of the guy's skin.

Wait a minute, I recognise that jawline...

We stay there for a few moments, both in shock of what just happened.

I inch backwards in my sitting position subconsciously, is this guy going to move or what?

Once he comes to his senses, the man flinches away a little but he's still far too close for my liking. I can see a kind young face peer down at me apologetically, not recognising me at all.

My offender withdraws suddenly, putting a few meters of distance between us, " _sorry_ , my bad."

His voice confirms my suspicion, my pained hateful scowl falls from my face.

I mean, not even a soulless being could stay _mad_ at Barry Allen for more than a few seconds.

He offers his hand and I take it, allowing him to pull me to my feet. I stagger backwards as my body weight is suddenly forced on my stunned legs.

"You're fine," I forgive him immediately, slipping my hand out of his as I selfconsciously dust off my clothes.

Still not recognising me, he looks me up and down, "are you alright?"

I chuckle and shake my head, this incident is something awkward and embarrassing that only I could pull off, but here he is taking my place in the awkwardness.

I have to hold my breath, nearly suffocating myself as I try not to laugh.

He seems to think my suffocation is a side affect after being knocked over and the troubled expression continues to cover his face.

For some unexplainable reason, all I want to do right now is tease him.

"I don't know, _am_ I?" I say, purposely trying to confuse him.

I'm a _horrible_ person. Trust me, I _know_.

I can't help but wonder where he was headed before we crashed into one another. He was in quite a hurry by the looks of it.

He just blinks in confusion, and I decide to make it easier for him, "Barry, what appointment are you running _late_ for this time?"

Finally, I spin my head to look him in the eye. He takes a surprised step backward and his green eyes fill with recognition.

"Hazel?" he asks quizzically.

I smile, surprised at my suddenly improved ability to keep myself from word vomiting. In moments like these I would usually start rambling on about the first thing that came to mind, but this time I have control over my mouth.

"That's me."

"Wha-" he gapes at me for a few seconds before pulling himself together and his expression shifts into a grimace.

"I'm sorry for hitting you, I should have been watching where I was going. Are you okay? Wait, I already asked you that-"

By the looks of it, I passed my rambling disease onto _him_. I decide to cut him short and save him from certain death by embarrassment.

"I'm fine, it's okay. I'll probably have a showcase worthy bruise by tomorrow morning, but it's nothing a good-old shower can't fix," I reassure him.

My words repeat in my head and I almost choke on absolutely nothing when I recall the irony of what I said about the shower. I wonder if a shower really could heal my bruises; being a meta with the powers of Poseidon or some crap similar to that.

For some reason he seems to cough, failing to hide a short outburst of laughter at the same time. He can't have understood my joke, I doubt he even _knows_ what a meta is.

Right?

"Sorry," Barry begins to back away, still taking as he walks, "to answer your earlier question, I'm supposed to be at STAR labs right now..."

He pauses to explain at my confused expression, "...for a checkup. You know, the coma and all-"

"Yeah, right," I call after him, "see you later."

"Bye!" he suddenly screams too loudly before taking off at a dangerous speed.

...

Well that was _something_.

 _STAR Labs,_ Barry had said.

That place has caused me a lot of trouble, him too. At least that wreck is helping someone, I suppose...

I take a step in the direction of my apartment, excited to finally be reunited with Ronda.

My thoughts dance excitedly for a moment before I remember, _Jitters_.

Wait up, I almost forgot to get _coffee_!

How on earth had Barry managed to distract me from my addiction?

Did I say addiction?

Pfft! Of _course_ not. That would be unhealthy...

 _Heh. Heh, yeah_... I'm not fooling anyone.

Xx

Its Friday morning, and I'm back at Jitters.

I would have stayed home, but I needed to take Ronda somewhere now that I've got her back. Jitters seemed to be the perfect place to go at the time.

Now that I'm here, I know that I _definitely_ should have stayed home.

Firstly, Jitters is packed. It is full of people and no tables are available. I have managed to salvage a three seat table at the back of the room, but I am only taking up one chair, the empty chairs gathered around me make me seem like a complete loner.

Secondly, the news has been airing the same lie of a report about an explosion in the river over and over. Apparently it was just a military training exercise, but seeing as the Streak can be seen running away from the explosion on tv, I highly doubt that it was _military training._

I hope he's okay...

This week I hadn't been asked to do any photoshoots, so I am a free woman with way too much time on her hands.

It's just as great to be free as it is lonely.

Iris has work all the time, Tilly is moving out on Sunday according to a short conversation we had had this morning. Eddie seems kind of sketchy around me and I'm not quite sure why, but he also has work. As does Barry, who I have barely met despite the amount I've heard of him from Iris and that weird run in yesterday.

The only other human being I could consider a friend at the moment is the Streak, who I haven't heard from since the night that I discovered my powers.

Overall... I have no friends who can actually be bothered to hang out with me.

Which is honestly _great_. Now I have time to sort out what I'm going to do with my life now that I've got super powers.

I could _help_ people, like the Steak...

Could I though? I have so many questions for him that I had been too preoccupied to ask the last times I saw him.

For example, what was that _lab_ that I was taken to after he first saved me from Jon? What is a Cisco? How did I get my powers? Where the hell do metas come from?

Well, he had already explained that last one... something to do with the particle accelerator explosion?

He used so many 'big people' words in that explanation I didn't really catch on to much.

I take a large sip of my caramel latte. I usually get hazelnut ( _no_ , not because my name is Hazel) but today I felt like trying something new.

The Streak had mentioned associates. I wonder who...

If I wanted to be... a _hero_ -

Aaand I stop my train of stupid thoughts right there. That's _never_ gonna happen for _more_ reasons than one.

Firstly, I'm _Hazel Reed._ The chick who owns an _art store_ and takes _photos_. I can't be anything more than that, I never will be.

The Streak is probably some cool, inspirational billionaire who gives kids free toys as he walks down the side walks.

Secondly, I _don't_ want to die.

That might sound cowardly... but seriously. I fell over at prom and almost rolled my ankle. I can't dance, so good luck to me trying to fight.

I don't even know the first thing about fighting.

Thirdly but not finally, I don't even understand my powers. I get that they are related to water, I can heal and make shiney blue crap fly out of my hands, but I don't really know anything about what I'm doing or how I'm doing it.

Was that night with Jon just a one time thing? Do I have limits? How do I trigger my power? Can I do more?

And back to my original question... _should_ I be doing more?

I stare intently at the wooden table as I get lost in thought.

Just then, a familliar voice invades my non-existent privacy.

"Hey Hazel! Second time I've seen you here in just as many days," his face lights up with an awkward smile, "I'm off work for a while, all the tables are full. Mind if I crash here?"

I drown my shock of his presence in the caramel-y goodness of my latte, "sure..."

First it was Iris that I kept seeing randomly at Jitters, now Barry? This is weird...

He sits fluently down across from me, turning his chair to face the TV as the 'military accident' story plays again.

He scoffs at the TV as if he has also seen it a million times before, a familiar darkness taints his usually bright green eyes.

I recognise his expression immediately. Probably because I saw it each time I looked in the mirror for the first few days after witnessing Derek's murder.

 _Derek_...

Old memories flood back to me, I try to push them back. Screw Derek! He is- was- a dickhead who cheated on me.

Why am I still upset by that? Sure it was unnerving and I shudder every time I think about it because of the gruesome display of birds, but why do I still care about Derek?

Ugh, I don't know anymore.

I don't pry into Barry's personal life. Mostly because I hated talking about what happened at first when Derek died. Another reason is because if I am _wrong_ about this, asking about it would be awkward and insulting.

' _Hey Barry, you look like you've just watched someone die.'_

How considerate.

' _Hey Barry, who died?'_

How blunt.

The awkward silence is becoming too long for my liking, so I attempt to start up a conversation, "tonight'll be fun... I _hope_."

The earlier darkness in his eyes is replaced with a spark as he smiles, "I hope so too. I'm usually the third wheel in these situations. Call me selfish, but it's nice that Iris dragged someone else into this."

I chuckle, completely and shamelessly agreeing with him.

"Speaking of Iris, have you seen her lately?" I ask.

"Actually, no," he says, "I've been trying to get her to stop writing about this 'Streak' guy, and she's been avoiding me ever since I brought it up."

I frown, "why?"

"Our difference of opinion is getting between us. This blog... I think could be dangerous. The Streak's enemies could seek her out for information, or assume that they have a connection. She seems to think of the Streak like he's a god, and it's unhealthy," he says.

Barry seems to care for Iris a lot, and I second his opinion on her blog. I told her what I thought the first time she mentioned it, but she won't stop no matter what I say.

"I'm with you on this, what she's doing is reckless, she might think she's safe but she's really not," I say, "maybe the Streak could visit her..."

I trail off in thought.

Then I realise what I had just said implied that I knew the masked man, "... _because_ it would be the right thing to do. I doubt a guy like that would want people getting hurt because of him," I blurt out.

To my surprise, my explosion of words had actually made sense for once. _Yay me._

"Yeah..." Barry seemed to be in another world when he said this.

There are a few moments of silence.

I decide to try and draw back his attention before this gets weird, "in a _lighter_ tone..." I try to change the subject, "do you know what movie we're seeing?"

He puffs in laughter, seeing my discomfort talking about the Streak.

They way he's looking at me... it's like he _knows_ something that I don't.

"Iris didn't say, she's been ignoring me all day like I said, but seeing as _Eddie_ is going, it'll probably be sappy romance."

 _Hold the phone!_ Did he just call romance _sappy_? How dare he! I give him a look of complete and utter offence and he raises his hands in retreat.

"Hey! I never said I have a _problem_ with romance."

I raise my eyebrow, hardly believing his protests.

"Well, _I_ happen to love romantic shows... But I do agree with you on this rare- _extremely_ rare, occasion. As long as Eddie is there, we are on board for a _dangerously_ sappy romance movie."

Briefly, a foreign expression crosses his face at the mention of Eddie's name. It takes a moment for it to register to me.

Hold on, was that _jealousy_? Of _Iris_?

That makes no sense... but it makes _complete_ sense at the same time.

If I see that look again tonight, I'm going to have to pull the 'Jackson story' on him.

Thinking of Jackson, Tilly is leaving in two days. I need to head home and spend some time with her before she goes, even if she doesn't really want me around.

"Romance huh? Like what?," he says, offering me a chance to express my passion for TV shows.

I shake my head, "as much as I _do_ want to, I _don't_ want to bore you to death with my obsessions on Netflix."

I slurp up the last of my coffee, "besides, I better head home. My best friend is moving out and I want to make the most of her being around."

His eyes follow me as I stand and tuck in my chair, "see you tonight."

"See you," he says absently.

With that; I take off, taking one last look at Barry as I reach for the exit.

The military story is replaying on the Jitters tv, Barry is watching it with his full attention. Don't they have anything less depressing to air? The darkness has nested in Barry's eyes once more, I can almost see the sadness roll off of him in waves. I wonder what _happened_...

Or rather, what he _saw_.

 **(A.N. - this all took place after that explosive chick died... I forgot her name I'm sorry. I'll have to start rewatching the episodes... again. Ugh)**

Xx

 _Where_ is she?

I have scanned the apartment twice and she is no where to be seen! All her stuff is still here, so she can't have moved out just yet...

What could she be doing?

Tilly is never around when I'm at the apartment, and if she is, she leaves immediately. I still don't know what I did to make her feel like this, but at least she was trying to make a change. Even if it is _without_ me.

She's _trying_ to get better...

I grab my art stand from my wardrobe, coughing dramatically as dust pours out with it. I haven't used this since the particle accelerator. Mostly, because I've had enough time at work to paint in breaks between customers. Now it seems that I haven't got that time anymore.

I toss a white towel on the ground in the kitchen to stop stains on the wooden floor, and place the art stand on top of it.

I like to paint in the kitchen because there is is inspiration _everywhere_. The kitchen is the biggest open room in the apartment, and the giant window with a beautiful sweeping view could motivate me to paint something aesthetically pleasing any day.

Pulling my paints out of the cupboard near the TV, I prepare with my brushes to begin painting.

Painting.

Painting, _painting_.

Hours pass, and I work restlessly on my image until it seems good enough for me to be able to look at without blanching with self disgust.

I step back and admire my work, feeling accomplished, as I always do after doing well with a brush.

I hadn't known what I was painting until about halfway through, but my thoughts eventually became clear in my head.

I had painted _the_ dock.

Yes, _that_ dock.

It had been rebuilt while I was in the coma, no one had really seen the devastating condition it had been in first hand like I had that night.

In the painting, the dock isn't rebuilt. In fact, it's far from it.

It is laying in ruins in the water, dark sky and dim lights bobbing in the dirty waves.

The chunks of the broken bridge are spread through the water like stepping stones.

Stepping stones to a new beginning.

Stepping stones to a new light.

Small waves glisten in the darkness, uncertain of where they will crash.

Lets just say I'm really proud of this painting, and if it's not sold by Tuesday I'll probably keep it myself.

Glancing at the clock, I realise that I only have an half hour until I'm supposed to meet Iris at the movies.

I guess I got carried away, and there is still no sign of Tilly.

I sigh heavily as I clean my brushes with experience and pack away all that I can without disrupting my drying page. The painting is displayed on the stand as I decide to leave it to dry.

 _Paint_ can dry, sure, but ' _what about me_?'

After all that I've been through... will I _ever_ be the same, fun, happy person I used to be?

 _Can_ I find a way to dry amongst this new canvas I've woken up to?

Seeing my new friends _tonight_ , followed by many others, is in my opinion a decent start.

I smile to myself as I jog down the hall to the bathroom.

The stays planted on my face as I prepare for my shower. Getting ready for tonight has me much more excited than I had been when Iris first proposed the idea of tonight's movie.

Probably because I was mid way through my fight with Jon. Still, I'm happy I didn't let my struggles get in the way of my life.

I gotta _feeling_...

Xx

 **So ... to sum up all the blab I** ** _want_** **to write here...** ** _sorry_** **. After school, I barely feel like writing, and I kept feeling like this chapter isn't good enough to post up. Still, thank you people for all your support and next chapter will definitely be featuring the movie night. I have wanted to post this chapter all weekend... and now it's 7:30 on a Monday night... Aren't I productive? Anyways, thanks guys. Sorry if this chapter is a let down :(**

 **Much love as always,**

 **Yaysies536**


	17. Chapter 16

**Hello. Finally, I've made it to this chapter, and oh muh gawd it took long enough. Before I started writing this story, I brainstormed a bunch of ideas that I could use. This was one of the first. Thanks everyone for being so supportive, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 16

( _Set after episode 5, you know... the one with the explosive chick, general Eiling and Iris and Barry's fight. Everything's the same except the Streak hasn't visited Iris... yet)_

Clothing.

The biggest obstacle in life, is finding clothes suitable for an event.

If any other girl on this planet disagrees with me, throw them in front of my wardrobe and force them to make me an outfit for every possible occasion.

Impossible.

It's not that I have too many clothes, or a bad taste when it comes to fashion, it's that I have severe issues when it comes to making decisions.

Usually, Tilly would choose my outfit and make me change into it at last minute, so that I don't have time to turn and bail.

Seeing as Tilly doesn't really give a flying crap anymore, I'm on my own.

On my own, standing in front of a giant gaping wardrobe filled with crossroads. God help me.

I want an outfit that screams, ' _stay the frack away from me unless I come to you first._ '

I know, it seems antisocial and hostile, but I have had some real bad experiences with randoms approaching me at the movies.

It never got too out of hand, nothing illegal ever happened, but I'd happily have a staring contest with death itself before I ever go to the movies alone.

I've changed about ten times now and I can't seem to get it right.

I've been racing between my wardrobe and the bathroom mirror with every change of clothes, my decide-ophobia is really beginning to tick me off.

Finally, I find an outfit that doesn't make me want to run for the hills.

A loose, white, knitted long sleeve jumper and some long black jeans. I slip a pair of high top converse over my feet.

Hopefully, tonight won't be a disaster like some of my trips to the movies have been in the past.

Returning to my room, my eyes land on a white knitted beanie sitting on my shelf.

Surely that would repel other Homo Sapiens!

I slip the beanie over my head, my wavy hair flattens down beneath it.

I know, right? My hair is out!

After my shower I brushed it and left it to dry, and somehow it hasn't exploded yet. I sincerely hope that my hair can stay decent for at least half the night.

Over the last few weeks, I have learnt that hope is all you need to get through the day. That _and_ friends...

I grab my leather bag and sling it over my shoulder, excitedly exiting my apartment and hopping down the stairs.

For the first time in ages, I can finally drive Ronda.

For the first time in ages, I might actually _enjoy_ a normal night out.

Xx

' _I come alive to the sound of your blast off,_

 _And though run I know your love has got me,_

 _Huh,_

 _I'm running high but I can't get enough of,_

 _The way you run my soul in,'_

I sing softly along to the Jungle Giants best song (in my opinion), _'Bad Dream._ '

It's good to be back. Ronda is just as much fun as she was the last time I saw her, and I'm entering the parking lot outside the movies.

The building is tall just like the surrounding stores lining the endless darkening streets, lights all around the city are flickering to life.

I have been doing laps around the car park for five minutes now, glancing at the small glowing figure in the bottom corner of my radio showing the time.

'5:56pm' it reads.

My eyes dance along the top of the buildings around me, the dark sky nestles a top of them, casting the roofs in shadow.

This city is truely amazing...

A faint red light suddenly registers in the corner of my eye, and I look up with a shout.

BEEP!

A car is reversing out on front of me, the sudden beep had caused me to jump and press down on my accelerator.

I duck down and slam my foot on the break, accepting the defeat of my dearest Ronda. I had one job; find a park without breaking my newly returned car.

This incident shows, I failed.

A few climactic seconds pass and nothing happens.

I succeeded? Pfft! Impossible.

I sit in a clenched, defensive pose for a few, ugly seconds, before relaxing my posture. I hear a faint whoosh from outside.

What is going on?

My eyes flick open and I look around. The other car is nowhere is sight, Ronda and I are peacefully sitting in an empty park a few rows away from where the crash should have happened.

Uhh...

I try to think back to the accident, but my thoughts fly past in an unreliable blur.

It all happened so fast- _wait up._

Fast, blur?

I nearly slap myself in the face as it dawns on me.

Duh!

I scan the rooftops around the parking lot once again, searching for a sign that he had been here.

For some reason, one nagging question continues to tug on my mind,

If he had been here, why hadn't he stayed?

Am I just another civilian to him, now that Jon is behind bars?

 _Whoosh_.

I gasp as I look up to catch a flicker of lightning flash across the rooftops. It reaches the roof of the theatre building, before diappearing into the grey sky.

Or... into the top entrance leading to the movies.

What the hell is the _Streak_ doing in the _movies_?

Geez, just the thought of this guy shoves questions into my head.

I pull the key from the ignition and grab my leather bag, before jumping out the car and using the remote to lock the door.

I pick up my pace as I glide through the car park.

To my surprise, there is no line outside the theatres, once I reach the glass doors i swing them open, not slowing in the slightest.

I look around nervously, scanning the crowd for anyone who knows my face. I catch my breath as I see Iris and Eddie, both here early.

I am tempted to forget the Streak and join them, but _tempt me not today Satan._

Merging with the crowd, I swim may way through the line to reach the stairs.

The Streak had come through the top of these and not come out. He is here, somewhere.

I look nervously at the dark narrow staircase. I only know they are here because of one particular ' _bad_ experience at the movies'...

I'd rather not go into details, not even in my thoughts.

Sucking in a deep breath, I step foot off the safe, black carpet of the foyer onto the creaky wooden stairs.

The stairs creak with each step, the grey sky begins to come into view.

I'm only a few steps away from the roof when a dark shadow passes over me.

I stop in my tracks. I shouldn't have come up here, I've already learnt my lesson, multiple times.

 _Bad things go down at the movies._

A shiver passes over me as the shadow stills, casting darkness throughout the entire stairway.

Oh nooo...

Against my wishes, my hands begin trembling and my voice gets caught in my throat.

Someone is in here with me...

I reach one shaking hand into my pocket and pull out my phone. I swipe furiously as I finally make it through the maze of applications to turn on the torch installed in my phone.

Not looking back, I scramble down the stairs.

What was I thinking? The Streak probably ran down the side of the building or ran away on a _freaking cloud of meta human-y confusing-ness_. He can literally run at the speed of _sound_ (I think) and I'm here trying to _catch_ him?

I'm an idiot.

Whoever was above me doesn't seem to have moved, the shadow hasn't shifted even once and I can't hear the creaky stairs moving behind me.

 _Bad things happen at the movies..._

The golden glow of the warm lights burning in the foyer comes surrounds me once more as I fly down the last few steps.

My heart pounds like a drum and I hold back a terrified scream, why did I come back here?

I leap forward, aiming for the light...

But I don't find light in my next stride. I find myself face to face with an old nightmare I'd been running from since my last visit to the movies.

My now clammy fingers push me back from my sprawled out, weak position on his chest.

A victorious, horribly familiar smirk spreads across his face.

This can't be happening... _how is this happening?_

Why do I never, ever, run into any nice people in dark places?

It's not that much to ask for, _just leave me the hell alone!_

Nick Cassels.

The one and only guy, other than Derek, who had shown interest in me in my entire life.

Could be a nice guy, right?

Apparently, no good soul finds me attractive.

( **FLASHBACK - 10 months ago)**

 _Tonight. Has. Been. Incredible!_

 _Tilly, Sam, Grace, Natasha and I have been here almost all night, watching movie after movie, after movie._

 _Expensive, I know, but hell yes, it's worth it._

 _The girls are all waiting for me in the cue, I've been given the luxury of being servant for the day after a bet gone wrong (for me anyway)._

 _"Hey," I greet the young worker behind the desk, his name tag shines in the golden light._

 _According to the badge, his name is Kyle Lawton._

 _The guy seems around my age, a kind smile planted on his face. He's either really enjoying himself, or just one of those creepily fake-happy guys._

 _Continuing on after my observation, "I'd like two frozen fantas, a frozen coke and three frozen raspberry fan as please."_

 _I'm standing all alone, ordering for 5 people. No wonder Kyle gave me a weird look and another forced smile._

 _"Sure..." he says, "what size?"_

 _I wince, now I'm going to sound really fat, "large?" I say, but it's more of a question._

 _He nods, looking me up and down as if he's thinking 'how are you not overweight?', before turning his back to me and moving towards the machines._

 _I step back and relax, watching the man as he works. Out of no where, a considerably older, more toned, overall; more terrifying man comes out of absolutely nowhere and grabs Kyle's arm._

 _A worried expression wipes the fake smile off of poor Kyle's face, the big man leans down to whisper into his ear._

 _Kyle nods eagerly, but the upset, disgusted look on his face begs to differ his excitement. What is going on there?_

 _Suddenly, the co-worker shoves Kyle off and Kyle returns to the staff room, the big man turns to face me._

 _A dashing white grin creeps up his face, I hesitantly flick my gaze down to his badge._

 _I'm going to report this guy when I get the chance, poor Kyle looked absolutely terrified._

 _Nick Cassels, the badge reads. Nick walks towards the counter, leaning over like a shark sniffing out a meal._

 _"Hi?" I ask, silently calling for help._

 _If only I had telepathic abilities to call over my friends, this dude clearly wanted trouble._

 _"Hi," he says lowly, still smiling scarily._

 _"Am I going to get my frozen drinks, or should I just leave?" I ask, regrettably coming off hastily._

 _The man grins, chocolate brown eyes beadily glaring at me, completely contradicting his friendly smile._

 _"Follow me," he instructs, walking out of the small gate and begin to walk through the crowd._

 _"Why?" I ask nervously._

 _"Frozen machine 's broken, we have an extra upstairs," he explains._

 _I'm almost definite he's lying. Just look at his cocky smirk... I ain't trusting that._

 _Warily, I slowly follow him, leaving a safe distance between us. I'm going to get this dude fired, the way he's looking at me... it's as if he's going to eat me as soon as I try to run._

 _A small, narrow stairway comes into view. I've never seen this before..._

 _An idea pops into my head and I slow my pace. I watch Nick closely, waiting for him to look away._

 _As soon as he does, I quickly turn my head to observe the frozen drinks machine. Kyle is back and filling up more drinks, watching me from the corner of his eye._

 _I turn my head back to the lier in front of me._

 _The frozen drink machine is working._

 _What does this guy think he's doing?_

 _"Hey, you know what? Forget the drinks, keep the money. I'll just go..." I turn away and begin to walk off at a quick pace._

 _My heart begins to thump as I begin my short lived escape._

 _A cold, greasy hand grabs my arm. I don't bother struggling, I simply turn back to face him._

 _Shit._

 _After Nick throws me into the stairway, everything becomes a blur. He took my wallet, my phone, knocked me across the head a few times._

 _Once my thoughts become controlled once more, I wait patiently, taking the beating that is thrown my way._

 _Some guy to beat up a girl._

 _He turns away for a moment, taking a look through my wallet. I use this chance to strike. Not physically, but verbally._

 _I scream. Call me a freaking banshee, because that scream was something to be proud of. I wouldn't be surprised if the windows shook with the weight of my tremendous fear._

 _I am too shocked to be afraid, too unaware to know what's happening._

 _The last thing I remember from that night is seeing Tilly's face, and turning to watch as Nick runs up the dark stairway onto the roof with my wallet and phone._

 _He's probably going to get away through a fire escape for something._

 _He'll get away, but I'll be left with a name and a bruise._

 _Nick Cassels..._

( **FLASHBACK END)**

Xx

 **Barry's P.O.V.**

Late.

 _Again_. No surprise there, it's expected of me by now. It would be nice to be able to make an impression for once...

Espeacially now, since Iris can't seem to see past our difference of oppinion. I'm not even sure why I am coming, Iris already made it clear she doesn't want me around.

I did tell Hazel that I would be here, and not coming would make me a monster for making her endure the wrath of Eddie and Iris' relationship alone.

I shudder at the thought.

I had been walking along the path near the parking lot when I heard the beeping and screeching of tyres. The way the world resets with my every move is as relieving as it is irritating. It's almost like stopping a car crash isn't _worthy_ of good impression!

At least those two drivers will thank me.

Usually I stop to recognise the faces of the people I have saved, but tonight is different.

I need to make up with Iris, or I will probably end up withering in a day without light. _Alone_.

I flash around the carpark once more, catching the time from a digital clock in the bottom corner of someone's radio. 5:56pm.

I have four minutes to find a way to mysteriously appear from thin air, without seeming like I mysteriously appeared out of thin air.

Maybe there's an entrance from the roof?

I quickly race up a stairwell to the rooftops, the grey concrete disappearing beneath my feet as I jump between roofs.

Finally reaching the overly lit theatre's roof, I begin running in slowing circles.

Naturally, I would have skidded to a stop, but seeing as I'm wearing a good pair of grey joggers, I'd rather not light them on fire with the heavy friction of an abrupt stop.

It takes minutes to finally slow down to normal speed, barely charring my shoes. I take a step towards the dark wooden stairwell, I can see a faint golden light shining at the bottom.

Stepping nearer, I notice that the narrow space is occupied by a human-like shadow. I hesitate, swaying indecisively side to side.

I would find another way in... but how do I get down from here without running and sizzling my shoes?

 _Creak_.

I stumble slightly as I fall from the concrete roof onto the first wooden stair. Whoops.

Whoever was occupying the narrow stair way has now frozen, I can feel their eyes on me.

I hold still. I can't see the person's face, they can't see me. For all I know, this person could be a giant man looking for a fight, or a little girl who lost her way to the bathroom.

Either way, I don't want trouble.

I hold still, hoping my lack of movement would prompt them to turn around.

Not daring to blink, I watch as the person pulls out some kind of light. I soon realise it's a phone torch.

The soft white glow reveals a lean feminine outline of a young girl.

My defensively clenched posture relaxes as I realise neither of us are in any trouble. The girl turns away and hurries back down the creaky stairs, her hands seem to be shaking.

What's wrong with her?

I hold still for a few moments as she reaches the bottom of the stairs. The last thing I need is a screaming women falsely claiming that I'm a street rat trying to steal her purse in a narrow stairway, when I'm really just running late and hurrying down the stairs.

Then people would start asking questions, for example, how on earth did I get up here in the first place?

Good question...

I am broken from my thoughts as the golden light at the bottom of the stairway disappears entirely, the girl's phone torch is on the ground facing the sky.

" _Nick Cassels_ ," a familiar voice says shakily.

In the faint light, I see a large man with a reptilian smirk which just keeps growing wider, "you remember? This is going to be more fun than I planned..."

She takes a short step back as he takes a long stride forwards, pushing her further into the darkness.

This isn't going to end well...

I bound down the stairs, desperately fighting the urge to use my speed. At a slightly impossible pace, I move passed the girl and shove the man off.

He stumbles backwards, out of the stairway and into the light. I follow him, slowing down to a walking pace. A surprised look crosses his face, but he quickly replaces his shock with anger and pulls his hands up in a defensive stance.

" _Seriously_? Did you really just try to beat up a _girl_ , in a dark _stairway_ , at the _movies_?" I express my utter shame and disappointment in humanity.

"Shut up, kid," he growls, "go home."

I'm not sure what to do here. I mean, I know what I'm doing, I've done it a million times. It's just that I'm not sure what to do without my costume...

If I had the costume I would probably just run and chuck him a few streets away, seeing as he hadn't violated the law... _yet_.

But I don't have my costume, there are both witnesses and my flammable grey sneakers to sell me out.

What should I do as an ordinary citizen? _Run away_?

"You first," I spit back.

There are lots of people nervously watching the scene by now, surely this guy knows when he's lost an opportunity.

The rock of a man glowers at me before walking away slowly in the opposite direction. I don't dare look away until he swings the glass door open and steps out into the night.

Well, that could have been worse. I guess...

"Thanks," says the girl, she sounds breathless and slightly shattered.

I turn my head to face her and nearly slap myself as I do.

Of course it's Hazel Reed to get into trouble at the movies, of all places. Yet, somehow the attack isn't the worst thing that just happened.

Wishing I could reverse time, I realise that I basically just sold Hazel my identity. If she were to look into this, she would find the scorch marks on the roof and come to the correct conclusion.

I had just emerged from the shadows on the roof of a building. A building, of which, _this_ exact stairway is the _only_ way to get to the top of.

A bunch of people would be able to confirm that I hadn't been in this building all night, and that there is no way I could have gotten up there without jumping out of a _plane_.

After that mistake, my obviously mysterious and impossible appearance out of nowhere, I then continued to fly down the stairs and save a girl's life.

Turns out, that girl, happens to know me. Know me, as in, _both_ of my identities and just saw me in a state which was _mixed between the two._

The amount of ' _what the-s_ ' that just occurred would be enough to put some unanswerable questions in Hazel's curious head.

I shake my head and sigh.

Hazel had really come out of nowhere, I still barely know her and somehow she seems to have wriggled into my life. I'd been putting off seeing her as the Streak again, because I know she'll have questions.

Cisco wants me to bring her in and offer her a place at STAR Labs. At first I didn't want to because I didn't think she was ready for it, but I've recently learned that it's _me_ who isn't ready.

What if she agrees, and gets hurt because I'm not fast enough to save her?

I'm not even sure how we continue to cross paths.

Maybe it's the way every bad person in Central City is pulled towards her like a beacon, or maybe it's that she's Iris' first new friend since _collage_.

No matter all of that, it's only a matter of time before she figures it all out.

 _All_ of it.

Xx

 **Hazel's POV**

 _Saved_ , once again.

Firstly, by the Streak from a rookie mistake car accident. Now by some random from an old nightmare of mine.

Could I be more pathetic?

I mean, _yes_.

I was much more pathetic before I learned of my powers, and to be honest, I could have easily used them to prevent _both_ of these incidents.

But I _didn't_... and now I know why. It's all because I'm _afraid_.

Afraid of my strength, afraid of failure, afraid of change.

There is nothing stopping me from learning how to use and understand my gifts, yet I choose not to. That makes me a coward.

I'm a coward, because I've been running away from the idea of being able to help people, and away from the idea to be able to help myself.

Thanks be to the lord, I opened my eyes tonight.

 _Now I should probably open my eyes to what the hell is going on around me._

My eyes had automatically clamped shut as soon as the figure from the top of the stairs had appeared from thin air in front of me.

This had obviously been a gang up kind of thing, with the usual one guy blocking the exit and one guy blocking the entrance.

Once I heard the other man behind me, loudly thumping down the stairs towards me, I shut my eyes and accepted my defeat.

Yet, if I was _defeated_ , why did I still feel _hope_?

Pulling one eye open, I observe my surroundings.

I'm still in the stairway, pressed painfully against the third splintering step.

Instead of seeing Nick Cassels still happily swaying in my presence, a thinner, more lanky figure stands in front of me. The guy lets out a long sigh and takes a few steps back to lean casually against a wall.

Suddenly, it all clicks.

The guy above me wasn't ganging up on me, he was just waiting for me to leave. When he saw Nick harassing me, he came down to help.

Judging by Nick's retreating figure outside the glass theatre door, he did a great job helping.

"Thanks," I offer my _second_ saviour of the night.

The guy spins his head around to look me in the eye. I almost die laughing when I finally see who it is.

Barry Allen and I have a long history of not recognising one another until it's too late. Tonight is no exception.

He seems to be thinking the same thing judging by the both hysterical and disbelieving look on his face.

"Uhhh, hi Hazel," he says casually, looking as though he is considering physically slapping himself in the face, "how's your day?"

Hearing his voice, tonnes of questions break into my head like a loaded truck. What the hell? Where did he come from? Why was he on the roof in the first place?

A bunch of _disgusting_ answers come to mind and I decide not to ask either question.

"Hi, Barry," I say, just as confused, "I'm not going to ask questions, like _why_ were you up there in the first place, because I _don't_ wanna know-"

His facial expression changes into an ' _oh-shit I messed up'_ grimace.

"-thanks for saving me from that jerk," I finish.

Barry subconsciously moves his hand to scratch his neck, "I _wasn't_ \- I uh... I got here early and decided to... ugh... get some fresh air. On the roof?" he poorly attempts to explain his actions.

I scoff, "you expect me to believe that _you_ got here early?"

Barry is looking away from me as I say this, his gaze lingering on someone in the crowd.

He winces and closes his eyes, turning his head back to me.

"We should probably..." he trails off sheepishly and jabs his thumb in the direction which he had been looking in.

I turn to see what he was suggesting, only to see Iris and Eddie making out at a small round coffee table deeper into the foyer.

So that's what he was looking at...

"Oh," I remember why I came here in the first place, "yeah, are we late?" I ask, standing on my toes anxiously.

"Probably," Barry sighs as he leads the way to the table.

As we walk away from the scene, I glance behind me at the dark stairway. If someone else had followed Barry down here, his strange entry would have made sense.

Maybe he had been _talking_ to someone? I refuse to believe that _goody-two-shoes Allen_ had a women up there, but if he did it would make more sense.

None of the reasons that came to mind fit Barry's personality or the scenario. What was he _really_ doing up there?

Another mystery the universe doesn't seem to want me to solve...

If I want to enjoy tonight, I guess I'll just have to let this go.

Xx

I have never been more pissed in my life.

Iris is being a _bitch_.

Yeah, that's right.

When Barry and I finally got over to them, she wrapped me in a giant hug. Not so bitchy? _Try again._

She then proceeded to glare at Barry and mumble something about being late.

He would have been on time, but instead he stopped to save me when I was in strife. I tried to tell Iris, he o start some sort of conversation between the two, but she wasn't having it.

I reluctantly went along with her bitchy-ness... until I learned that the movie Iris is making us watch is ' _the Fault in our Stars.'_

Ugh!

"Iris," I sigh harshly, "come with me."

She begins to ignore me, and I hastily grab her arm and haul her out of the cue, leaving an awkward Barry and Eddie to have a one ( _Eddie_ ) sided conversation.

I shoot Barry an apologetic glance, but he just smiles and waves me off.

At least one person here knows how to show decency.

"What is up with you Iris?" I almost scream.

She holds a stone-cold expression, "nothing. Everything is fine."

"No, everything _would_ be fine if you weren't in this mood. This isn't a date night, Iris. Seriously, ' _the Fault in our Stars_ '? You've been ignoring Barry all night! What are you playing at?"

"Barry and I aren't speaking. At least, not for a while," she explains, "we had a difference of opinion, I'm not sure why he's even here."

"I know about the blog, Iris. Please, just stop being so cold, tonight was supposed to be fun. You're _ruining_ it," I say before walking away.

Iris' facial expression softens, but the night proceeds just as horribly as it was before.

Iris and Eddie fawning over one another, me trying to build a bridge through a broken friendship, and Barry just taking everyone of Iris blows, not once retaliating.

Just watching, I barely retain myself from lashing out at her again.

How can a person be so strong?

 ** _To be continued..._**

 ** _in the next chapter, duh._**

Xx

 **So, this chapter was long. It turned out so different, but so much better than my original idea. The amount of times I miss clicked and spelt 'goat' while writing this was ridiculous, I should have counted. The most memorable of these accidents was when I wrote 'standing in front of a giant gaping goat'. The perfect alliteration made me want to leave it there. Hahaha! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and thank you all so much for reading.**

 **Much love as always,**

 **Yaysies536.**


	18. Chapter 17

**Hello guys. I've been starting to finally plan this story, because until now I've been sort of reading along with you guys (I just wrote whatever came to mind). I didn't know where this was going to end, but now I have a fair idea. I'm not saying it's near the end, at this stage we're probably about halfway through... but I am really excited about starting a new story cuz I have an idea that I think its really original and AWESOME. Anyway, aside from my slowly inflating ego, enjoy reading :P.**

 **DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.**

Xx

Chapter 17

It's hard to stay mad.

Especially when Iris and Eddie are being too adorable, sharing cavity inducing-ly sweet comments during the romantic scenes of the movie.

I try to remember how much of a horrible, stubborn B-I-T-C-H Iris had been earlier, but with Barry making a-dork-able jokes at the cheesy romance movie playing before us, and correcting every medical or scientific mistake that the producers of the movie made, I can't help but let go.

I came here to have _fun, didn't I?_

By the time that the movie finished, I was in tears. I hadn't cried this hard watching a screen since Damon {SPOILERS} died on the Vampire Diaries.

Never mind... I cried much harder then, but this is the closest I've come to that record in a long time.

That, my friends, is a lot of tears.

I hide my red, puffy eyes behind a napkin I had taken in preparation for this movie, Iris warned me that it was rather "sad" at the end.

Hell, sad is an understatement.

That was just completely and utterly tragic, but beautiful at the same time.

I'm pretty sure I look ridiculous with the white fabric held firm against my face, but I don't want Barry to know that I've been crying. We made jokes about how sappy the movie would be earlier, now he'll either think that I'm soft or completely fake.

I think my sniffles have given me away, but I continue to hold the white napkin over my eyes as the theatre lights turn on, basically telling us to piss off because we've overstayed our welcome.

Since when were lights so sassy?

"Hazel, _what_ are you doing?" Barry asks, I can see him looking at me with confusion through the thin fabric.

Uhhh.

"I spilt popcorn in my eyes. The salt hurts, but surprisingly, this napkin is _really_ soothing," I lie, saying immediately what came to my extensively random mind.

I am proud of my lie, until I sniff loudly at the end of my sentence.

Barry raises an eyebrow, "you're crying."

 _Shoot_.

"Huh? Me? _Crying_? Pfft, I swear to you, it's the popcorn. Blame the popcorn," I sniff again, louder.

I hate myself.

"Okay then, how do you expect to get out of here with that over your face? Can you see out of that thing?" he asks from his seat beside me.

"Sure I can, she'll be 'right," I lie again.

I can only see for about a meter in front of me, I can't see the ground. Still, I refuse to let anyone see me in this state. I had applied heavy mascara for this evening, and it's probably smudged all over my face like a bad facial mask.

"I doubt that," he says under his breath, thinking I can't hear him, before asking loudly in an innocent tone, "okay then, answer me this. Where are Eddie and Iris?"

"I don't know, can't you see them?" I ask, genuinely confused.

I can feel my fingers turning white from pressing the cloth over my face intensely.

He chuckles, his innocent tone long gone, "oh, _I_ can see them. I just want to know if _you_ can."

Dickhead. Surely this guy knows what tears can do to a girl's face...

And dignity.

"Fine," I say, ripping the cloth off my face and exposing the horrors beneath, "are you happy now?"

His eyes widen with shock and regret, before shining in amusement, " _oh shi_ -... I mean, it's not that bad..."

I glare at him, shoving the material across my eyes again, " _this_ ," I gesture to my covered face, "is _your_ fault now. If you weren't such a bad liar, I'd probably have believed you and walked out that door _napkin free_. If I kick a child on my way down the stairs, you have no one to blame but _yourself_ for the kid's extensive injuries."

He snorts, "sorry."

Now that was just sarcastic. I was planning on taking the napkin off again, mostly because walking out with it on would just be stupid and childish. I guess I'm just the stupid, childish kind of girl.

 _B_ arry Allen had just _insulted_ me and _challenged_ me. Both mistakes were just as unintentional as they were catastrophic, and now he's going to see how bad he just messed up.

Clenching my jaw, I stand abruptly, pushing pash him and into the faintly lit aisle, full of stairs.

He stands up in protest to block my actions, but I shove a hand in his face and take my first step onto the public stairway.

I can feel the judge-y eyes on me, but I am dedicated now.

I probably would have been less undignified if I had just sucked up my soft spot for sad romance, dealt with my poor choice of wearing mascara to a depressing movie theatre and taken off the damn napkin.

I should have let Barry talk me out of this...

Step by step, I make it down the stairs.

Step, " _sorry_ ", intense glare.

That is the procedure that I follow with each attempt to make it down another step. I apologise to each person I accidentally bump or step on. At one point I even accidentally grab someone's head, mistaking it for the railing.

Oops.

I should have a sign with '# _blameBarry_ ' written in giant sparkly pink letters, waving it in the air as I wreck everyone's night.

Why pink? Because I'm a _child_ and I _said so._

I can tell when I reach the bottom because when I moved to take another step downwards, I almost fall over my feet.

I did it! I rip off the napkin in celebration, bringing my gaze up to Barry, who is still standing in front of his seat, gaping down at me.

I shrug and walk off towards the exit, making the huge mistake of coming into eye contact with Iris and Eddie.

They are both staring at me like I grew a third head.

"Wha- _why_ would you _do_ that?" they both scream at me, more confused and amused than angry.

Heh, they are talking in sync now. _Cute_.

I come closer and their jaws drop open further at the sight of my ruined face.

"Wait, you cried?" Eddie asks in an accusing tone.

Iris slapped him in the arm, and he recalls that she had been crying too.

He opens his mouth to say something (hopefully apologetic) but Iris is already talking.

" _Why_ would you wear _mascara_ to a _sad_ movie?" she sighs.

Iris sounds so disappointed in me... I'm a failure to the female race.

I storm passed them both, jabbing a finger at Barry who is still gaping at me from the seats.

" _Blame Barry!_ "

From the corner of my eye I can see him throw his hands in the air and glare playful daggers in my direction.

"For your mascara?" Iris calls after me mockingly.

Well, Iris, you can blame yourself for my bad makeup choices! I didn't know we were going to be seeing a sad movie! She should have warned me.

I glare Russian explosives at her before increasing my pace and heading straight for the ladies room.

This mascara has to go.

Xx

I've had enough excitement for the night.

I need to go home and remature...

Tonight was _supposed_ to be fun, though. Fun means bad behaviour.

Am I right?

To be fair, my worries from my short lived encounter with the Flash/ _word-class avoiding dickhead_ and being attacked by Nick Cassels both seem like events from a distant bad dream.

So... basically, compared to tonight, reality is a bad dream?

Seems about right.

Not allowing the truth to catch up with me, I head back out of the girl's room to find the group waiting patiently by a couch in the foyer.

"Where did you go?" Iris asks in a worried mother's voice.

I point exaggeratedly to my now nonexistent eyeliner.

She nods her head in understanding and relief, both of the boys are confused to Australia and back.

"Anyway, we're going to the bar!" Iris states.

Barry rolls his eyes and Eddie looks at Iris with concern. She's _absurd_! Why would she think that the bar is a _good idea_?

Whatever. Maybe if she gets drunk, she'll finally stop being a horrible person and apologise to Barry.

"Cool," I state in a bored voice, plonking down on the couch.

Then it occurs to me... there's only _one_ bar in Central City that isn't filled with crazies.

And that one bar is the _karaoke bar._ And that karaoke bar, is where Tilly _works_.

I tense up, " _wait_ -"

Xx

We've been at the bar for hours.

 _Hours_.

And for some reason, everyone but Barry and I are drunk. Thank god for that too...

Considering my earlier behaviour, drunk me would probably be having an especially special night. I've been trying not to drink much, but my intolerance seems to be very high today.

I don't even feel buzzed. I take a sip from my glass of water in front of me.

Oh. _Water_.

My powers are probably increasing my metabolism with every sip of water I take.

So basically... just drink water and I'll be fine?

Cools! I hate drunk me anyway.

I stand up from the lonely table, Barry had gone off somewhere, Eddie and Iris are both off dancing.

I think they are _both_ drunk, but who am I to judge?

Reaching the bar, I demand alcohol, "I'll have a G 'n T, thanks."

The bar tender is tall, he's at least twenty years older than me.

Despite that, he is still smiling flirtatiously at me as he pours my drink. He doesn't take his eyes off me as he records my purchase in the tab that we had opened as a group.

You're weird, I think to myself.

"You'r-" I barely stop myself from voicing my opinion.

I think I need more water...

I realise that I'm staring and he raises an eyebrow suggestively. Bile begins rising in my stomach.

 _Water please_.

I turn away, not meaning to be rude, and reach our table. Placing down my alcoholic drink, I grab the water and chug it down, feeling more controlled than I had just moments ago.

I turn around, only to inhale a deep breath of old pervert stench.

The bartender had followed me.

"Ugh, no thanks. I don't mean to offend you, sir, but I think you're at least 20 years older than me."

He continues to move closer, his eyes darkening. I catch my breath. Where's the Streak when you need him?

Suddenly, the bartender is gone. In his place, is Tilly's exhausted face.

"What are you doing here?" she complains.

I don't think twice before wrapping her in a hug. She just saved me!

Who needs a Streak when you have a Tilly?

Well, I'm loosing my Tilly soon... I guess I'll be needing a Streak pretty soon. I shake my head, karate kicking negative thoughts from my brain.

"Thanks, Tilly. I'm here with some new friends... will you be around tomorrow? You're leaving early Sunday morning, I want to spend the day with you before you go."

She rolls her eyes, brushing off her stripy apron and turning to walk away.

"We could watch The Vampire Diaries! Finish off the series before you leave?" I try, but she just keeps walking.

"Aw, come _on_! You're seriously going to pass up an opportunity to admire Ian Somerhalder for the masterpiece that he is?" I call after her.

She pauses at the gate to the bar, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Sounds fun."

Xx

Barry is back!

He appeared out of thin air, but he's here. I'd almost begun to think he'd run off. It's 11:42, according to my phone, and the West-Thawne ship is still sailing strong.

They are sort of making out on the dance floor, Barry and I are awkwardly sitting and watching from a table. Jealousy is radiating from Barry like a strong wind, and I can't keep my big, curious mouth closed.

"You like her," I state the unspoken.

Barry goes rigid, " _what_? No, she's like a sister to me, Iris is..."

He rambles on and on, before I stop him by touching his arm. He turns to look at me, his eyes desperately searching for a sign that I believed that he really didn't like her.

"Bud, that reaction alone tells me I'm right," I say and his posture falls, "but, hey. I won't tell her."

He shakes his head and sighs, "yeah, you will."

I sit back and let my mock offence show, "I will _not_! Here's why:"

Barry turns his head, and the Jackson Story begins.

"You're in for it now," I mutter, ashamed of myself for having told this story so many times to hopeless, crushing old friends of mine.

Barry raises an eyebrow and lets his head rest on his hand, elbow firmly planted on the table.

"Okay," I suck in a deep breath, "so. There was this kid who went to my school called Jackson, and I had the biggest crush on him."

He raises his eyebrow in confusion. Give me a chance!

"Quiet you, just listen. I liked him before I even knew what liking someone could mean, I stalked him like he was a celebrity. In 11th grade, my best friend Tilly and him started dating. I wasn't mad because I thought he was too good for me, that we would never happen. I never told him how I felt because I would loose his friendship. I'd just admire him from a distance..."

Barry has lost his mocking expression, now he's just genuinely listening.

"He had brown hair, green eyes, the greatest jawline in the history of jaw lines. Except for Damon Salvatore's of course... that jawline was created by the lord himself," realising that I'm gushing about my celebrity crush, I move to look Barry in the eye.

They look kind of similar.

"He looked a bit like you..." I muse, before covering my mouth and wishing the earth would open up and swallow me whole.

I try to correct my slip up as I watch Barry look away, retreating like a turtle into its shell. His face is oddly coloured. Wait up, is he _blushing_?

"Not that I- ugnnnh."

"Forget that I said that."

"He's nothing like you."

"But that just sounds..." I scramble for the right words, " _mean_."

"Shoot, I just word vomited all over you," Barry is choking on absolutely nothing at this stage, "aaaand I've dug myself a hole here..."

He explodes with laughter.

"You gonna help me out or just sit there laughing?" I accuse, "shoot, this is a pretty deep, dark hole."

I almost laugh at my inner thoughts flying from my mouth. If people knew the kind of stuff that flies around in my head, I would have been put in a crazy asylum long ago.

"Fine then. You're cute, I said it," I blush crimson as I admit it.

"Are you happy now?"

Barry is shaking with laughter. I don't know whether I'm hurt because he laughed at my compliment or relieved because he didn't take my confession too seriously.

" _Okay_ , moving on," I take a moment to regain my composure, "when I looked at all the other guys, I just didn't see potential in any of them. Well _, to be fair_ they actually were all _gross_ and had the same IQ level as a goldfish, but that's not the point. Jackson was better than most people at most things. That's just how he was, and because of that; everytime I met someone I might be interested in, I turned them away because I kept comparing 'said interest' against someone who I didn't want them to beat. Everyone else seemed inferior to him, and that is because that's what I wanted them to be. I didn't know I was doing it, but I basically made Jackson a God in my own mind..."

"No matter how hard I tried to see someone else, I kept comparing them."

"My solution was to try to find someone else, who was completely different from him. Jackson was deadly serious and very passionate. Derek was sarcastic and hard working..."

I hesitate as I realise that I'm talking about _him_ and _him_ , to _him_.

"You don't have to-" Barry voices my own concerns.

"No, it's fine," I quickly decide.

I've got to wrap this up quickly before I die of embarrassment or burst out in lovesick tears.

"By siting back and just watching, being a spectator, you really are just torturing yourself. Find someone who is nothing like Iris, so that there is no comparison. That's how you move on..."

I turn away as old tears break through the floodgates, and stand. _Why did I do that?_

I know that I can't handle talking about Derek still, yet I had just spilled my guts.

Why?

I guess I saw myself in him... I needed to help him where I couldn't help myself. I got into a lot of trouble over Jackson...

Powering to the lady's room, I don't look back.

If only I had, because then, I wouldn't have missed Barry's lingering, curious gaze.

Xx

I drove home from the bar tonight.

Despite the protests of Barry and our drunken friends, I promised them that I wasn't drunk and that I wouldn't cause a car accident on the way home.

Thankfully, I didn't die on the way home.

Now, I have to try and survive the next hour waiting for Tilly to finally get back from work.

I place my keys and my bag on the kitchen bench, plopping down on the leather couch.

Oshi soon joins me, collapsing onto the couch beside me. I sit there stroking her for a short while, before Oshi stands up and leaves me.

She can be really cuddly, but she gets bored really fast. Thankfully, she's not one of those dogs that will bark and growl until you leave them alone. She just stands up, hits ya' in the face with her tail a few times before walking away slowly.

I try to stay put, but I miss Oshi's warmth against my leg.

Instead of staying on the couch, wasting the hour purposefully, I decide to do something vaguely more interesting.

Marching towards the cupboard, I pull out one of two red fold out camping chairs. My parents used to use these back in the day when I played netball for my school team. I had to quit once I graduated, and my parents tossed the chairs over to me.

They tried to convince me that I should go camping with the chairs some day, but I never bothered. I don't have any other gear, and it'd be easier to sell the chairs than to find a camping set.

I never went camping as a _child_ , and isn't that what camping is all about? The return to _childhood_ , to _happy_ memories. It's a shame half of my memories aren't all that happy.

I shake my head, forcing myself to break up my pity party. Keeping my mind empty of sad or scared thoughts, I head up the stairs onto the roof.

The late night sky hangs above like an eternal void, cold wind gently brushes over my face.

Reaching down, I tug the chair out and it pops to full size with a satisfying click. I sigh as I flop into the faded red chair, wrapping myself further in an ugly grey zip jacket which I had brought in preparation for the cool climate from the depths of my wardrobe.

I think empty thoughts as the wind blows my hair gently, the steady flow of my breathing is the only indicator that I am still alive.

A sudden gust of wind rips through the air, golden light flickers to a quick death behind me.

I try to conceal my gasp of shock and keep my jumpy feet on the floor, but my attempts are to no avail.

"Shoot," I whisper to myself, turning around to face the man whom I _definitely_ should have been expecting.

"Hi," the Streak speaks out, "long-ish time, no see."

 _And whose fault is that_? Wait, he just _lied_. He saw me earlier! Besides, why do I _care_?

"Hi," I grumble, turning around to face the man in the shadows, "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Why's that?" he asks, seeming to be genuinely oblivious to his own avoidance.

He literally saved my life earlier and left me in the dust! I went to try and find him, but instead I got attacked by a ghost from my past. I blame him for Nick; completely.

I snort, "never mind. I thought I was just another victim to you, another damsel in distress to save. You know, it's really degrading knowing that I'm helpless enough to have met _you_."

That sounded mean, even to my own ears. _Oh well,_ it's true.

His smile falters, "o-kay. Firstly; _ouch_. Secondly, I did tell you that you would see me again. Thirdly, that's _not_ true."

I raise my eyebrow in question, " _no_? Then tell me, why did you run earlier?"

He coughs, disguising a laugh, "well, running is kind of my _thing_."

Hah! Hilarious.

I continue to glare at him.

He shuffles uncomfortably, " _wha_ \- when do you mean, by ' _earlier_ '?"

"Outside the movies? Car crash? You saved me and some other dick who apparently needs to learn how to use an indicator. Ring any bells?"

He looks as though he is taken aback, but I don't trust his face anymore. You never know, he could be an actor or a mime when he's out of the costume.

"That was _you_? I swear I had no idea, I was running late for a-..." he blurts out before he cuts himself short, knowing that he had said too much.

"Whatever," I sigh and turn back to face the railing lining the edge of the building, shifting comfortably in the camping chair.

"Come on. Before Jon, you'd have been right. You were just another stranger which I had to work with to take down a threat," he tries for my forgiveness, "but now you're more than that," he hesitates, "you're my _friend_."

Yay me.

I raise an eyebrow again, knowing that he can't see my face. The Streak literally just said the most cheesy thing I've ever heard.

And yes, before anyone asks, I _have_ seen the Lego Movie.

To be fair, I feel the same way about him.

Wait. _Ew_ \- that sounds like he just confessed love to me. _Gross_. What I mean is, he has character. If I knew him out of the mask, I'm sure we would get along.

"Thanks," I finally say.

He nods, "also, you're a meta. It's kind of my job to know whether you're planning to destroy the city."

I snap my head around to face him, jaw wide open. So little faith! That was almost _disrespectful_!

"I would never!" I exclaim.

He smiles, "yeah, I know that. On the topic of you being a meta, my _other_ friends want you to join the team."

I slack and lay back in the chair, "what _team_?"

"Our team. You know, fighting crime, saving people."

" _You_ want _me_ to try and save _other_ people? I can't even _save_ myself!" I admit.

He smirks, "my associates can help you. We can help you understand your abilities and your limits."

I open my mouth to give another reason why I shouldn't, but I clamp it closed again. I keep giving myself excuses. There are just as many reasons why I _should_ start helping as there are reasons _not_ to help.

Thankfully, the Streak saves me from the civil war beginning inside of my head, "just think about it. We could use the help."

I sigh in defeat, " _fine_."

"Yes!" he celebrates under his breath, I wouldn't be surprised if he fist pumped the air behind me as well.

Suddenly, he pauses and reaches for what seems to be a communication system built within his suit.

When he releases it, he turns to me, "I've got to run."

"Cya 'round," I wave him off.

"Yes, you will. Do me a favour and trust that I'm not avoiding you, I don't like it when you're mad."

Confused and filled with new questions, I open my mouth to speak. He's not having any of it.

 _Whoosh_.

Rude!

Xx

 **Yay! I was reluctant to write that last part and instead shove it at the beginning of the next chapter, but I want to get the story moving faster. I hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading.**

 **Much love as always,**

 **Yaysies536**


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